(Kyiv) When Russian forces launched a military campaign against infrastructure in Ukraine nearly two months ago, they opened a front that took the war along power lines, water pipes and heating to homes, schools, offices and churches.
Millions of Ukrainians lack regular access to heat, electricity and water as the mercury drops below freezing, Martin Griffiths, who heads the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said on Tuesday. of the UN, to the UN Security Council. Some don’t have access to it at all, he said.
“In Ukraine today, the ability of civilians to survive is threatened,” said Mr. Griffiths.
Despite a rapid response and high donor commitment to a UN appeal for assistance, the needs are rapidly changing and growing. Much has been made of the need for diesel generators whose humming engines create temporary electricity for cell towers, restaurants and especially hospitals, which are the Ukrainian government’s highest priority.
Sporadic electricity has widespread impacts. It deprives people of the warmth of electric heaters, of constant light in the evenings, and of powering the millions of electronic devices and computers in a highly digitalized country ― and therefore livelihoods.
Strikes that prevent gas deliveries cut flames from ovens and stoves. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has advised residents of the capital to consider temporarily moving to rural areas, where basic necessities like firewood for heating are more abundant.
In the most desperate and hard-hit towns, some residents collect dirty water from the streets while water supply systems are temporarily disabled.
Saviano Abreu, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian affairs office in Ukraine, said he had collected hundreds of generators starting in June, aware of the country’s harsh winters.
“With this situation and people living in damaged houses, we knew at the time that we would have problems with heating, water and electricity, but not on this scale,” Mr. Abreu said, noting that supply chain issues were barriers to getting more equipment.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs announced last week that it would roll out its “largest cash assistance program in history” to Ukraine, totaling US$1.7 billion for 6.3 million people. He added that experience from other countries has shown that distributing cash directly to people to buy food, clothing and other basics is an effective strategy.
The United Nations Development Program takes a different, longer-term approach. It seeks to meet Ukrainian government requests for technical equipment such as power transformers, transformer substations, high voltage entrances, lightning rods, industrial gas turbines and other items to help restore the power grid and energy systems.
“With the World Bank (we) are doing an assessment across Ukraine of all the damage and needs that have resulted from this targeting of energy infrastructure,” said Jaco Cilliers, the program’s acting resident representative in Ukraine. We are in the process of putting that together, which obviously includes the larger scale equipment that would be needed for restoration. »
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week announced US$53 million in bilateral assistance to help Ukraine acquire “critical power grid equipment” ― in addition to an additional US$55 million for power sector support. emergency energy, such as generators.
The European Union said last month that it had made available 523 million euros (about 550 million US dollars) for humanitarian aid to Ukraine, and the United States pledged 1.2 billion US dollars to an appeal from the United Nations humanitarian coordination agency.
The EU Civil Protection Mechanism has also dispatched fire engines, ambulances, demining equipment, food supplies, mobile hospitals, excavators and portable and prefabricated Bailey bridges.
Donors have stepped in in different ways: the German city of Dortmund has just completed sending a third batch of support to the city of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, including vans, trucks and other vehicles. From the small British town of Hertford, a truck makes a delivery every two months, full of medical supplies, food and, currently, Christmas gifts for children.
Erik Heinonen, who works on the response for the charity Catholic Relief Services in Ukraine, said small items like a propane stove can have a huge impact.
“If you’re a mom with young kids, you worry about, you know, reheating food,” he said. “It would be great to give my kids a bath.” So the very basics to get through your day. »