As Ukraine Faces Second Winter of War, UN Warns of Long Conflict

“The impact of the continued attacks in civilian locations, human rights violations, and civilian suffering we are witnessing today will reverberate for generations to come,” said Danielle Bell, the head of the Ukraine mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). “Virtually every aspect of public life, from education and healthcare to the economy and social cohesion, has been adversely affected by the war, inflicting long-term damage on Ukraine's social, economic, and political fabric,” she added.

In a report released on Tuesday, OHCHR said 576 people were killed and 1,864 were injured between August and November 2023. It said 86% of these casualties occurred in territory under the control of Ukraine, particularly in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts of eastern and south-eastern Ukraine.

The OHCHR report notes that the majority of civilian casualties and damage resulted from shelling and multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) attacks near the frontline. It also noted that almost a quarter of civilian casualties occurred far from the frontline due to missile and loitering munitions attacks, predominantly launched by Russian armed forces, fueling the perception that “nowhere is safe.” The missile strike by Russian armed forces on a funeral reception in Hroza village, Kharkiv oblast, resulting in the tragic death of 59 civilians, further reinforced this perception.

Compared to the same period last year, civilian casualties have decreased overall due to evacuations of civilians from frontline areas and Ukraine’s effective air defense systems. However, the human rights situation is not improving.

“The past four months alone saw severe and far-reaching violations of human rights and international humanitarian law,” Bell noted, citing torture, sexual violence, willful killings, arbitrary detention, and other abuses.

The high level of physical destruction of civilian infrastructure, including energy generation and grain facilities, as well as mine contamination were going to have long-term adverse consequences for the functioning of the country.

As the war grinds on, OHCHR said, the Russian Federation has moved to impose its own legal, political, and administrative systems in areas it has occupied in violation of international humanitarian law. It noted that under international law the occupying power must maintain the status quo, to the extent possible. Instead, the Russian Federation is acting as the sovereign power over occupied territory by holding ‘elections’, appointing Russian judges, and applying Russian law, even retroactively, and conscripting Ukrainian men to serve in the Russian military.

The report called upon the Russian Federation to ensure the prompt return of all deported and transferred individuals, including children and persons with disabilities; refrain from changing the personal status of children displaced from Ukraine, including their nationality and their legal guardians.

For more information and media requests, please contact:

Kris Janowski +380952300437 krzysztof.janowski@un.org

Kateryna Girniak +380504868364 kateryna.girniak@un.org