Ukraine: Humanitarian Impact Situation Report (As of 3:00 p.m. (EET), 6 March 2022)

This report is produced by OCHA Ukraine in collaboration with humanitarian partners. It covers the period from 3 p.m. (EET) 5 March to 3 p.m. (EET) 6 March.

KEY FIGURES (FLASH APPEAL 2022)

12M people in need
(Source: 2022 Flash Appeal)

6M people targeted
(Source: 2022 Flash Appeal)

$1.1B funding required (US$)
(Source: 2022 Flash Appeal)

5% funded
(Source: FTS)

HIGHLIGHTS

• Reliable and predictable “windows of silence” and “safe passage” are urgently needed to relocate people whose lives are at risk and provide life-saving humanitarian relief supplies, including food, water and medicine, to the affected people who have been cut off from such assistance due to the military encirclement of cities across Ukraine.

• Safe passage from multiple cities, including Mariupol and Volnovakha (Government-controlled areas of Donetska oblast), have reportedly been postponed once again. Urgent evacuations remain impossible in the towns of Bucha and Hostomel outside the capital that have come under increasingly intense attacks in recent days.

• The human cost of the current conflict continues to rise. Between 4 a.m. on 24 February and midnight on 5 March, OHCHR reports at least 1,123 civilian casualties, including 364 killed, a more than 410 per cent increase compared to 26 February when OHCHR reported 240 civilian casualties. The actual number of civilian casualties is likely to be higher as civilian deaths and injuries continue to be verified.

• Children in conflict-stricken areas and those displaced by the conflict – the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says around 500,000 children have already fled Ukraine – continue to be disproportionately affected. Following the closure of schools countrywide, access to education has been impacted for around 5.7 million children and adolescents.

• Despite the access challenges, the Government of Ukraine, UN agencies and humanitarian partners continue to rapidly scale up relief activities inside Ukraine, where the security situation permits, while neighbouring countries are receiving growing numbers of refugees.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

On 5 March, the safe passage of civilians trapped in Mariupol and Volnovakha (Government-controlled areas of Donetska oblast) was impossible as fighting raged on despite a negotiated ceasefire agreed to by the sides to the ongoing hostilities.

After initially being confirmed for the following day, on 6 March, the evacuation of civilians from Mariupol (Donetska oblast, south-east) – home to around 400,000 people – was eventually suspended due to reported clashes along the evacuation routes. Despite this, around 300 people were reportedly relocated from Mariupol to the non-Government-controlled areas of Donetska oblast. Also, on 6 March, the head of the Ukrainian delegation for talks with the Russian Federation stated that there was a possibility of a “humanitarian corridor” out of Kharkiv – a conflict-ravaged city of 1.4 million inhabitants in northeastern Ukraine. At the time of writing, it remains unclear if evacuations have gotten underway in Kharkiv. “Windows of silence” and “safe passage” are urgently needed to relocate people whose lives are at great risk. Provision of life-saving humanitarian relief supplies, including food, water and medicine, to affected people who have been cut off from such assistance due to the military encirclement of cities across Ukraine, remains critical. In Kherson – home to around 290,000 people in southern Ukraine – 30 trucks stocked with humanitarian relief supplies have been unable to reach affected people in the city due to ongoing armed clashes.

Despite the access challenges, the Government of Ukraine, UN agencies and humanitarian partners continue to scale up relief activities inside Ukraine, where the security situation permits, while neighbouring countries are receiving growing numbers of displaced people. On 6 March, the first Government-led humanitarian convoy left Zaporizhzhia carrying around 90 tons of humanitarian relief supplies was expected to reach Mariupol.

The human cost of the conflict continues to rise. Between 4 a.m. on 24 February and midnight on 5 March, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reports at least 1,123 civilian casualties, including 364 killed, a more than 410 per cent increase compared to 26 February when OHCHR reported 240 civilian casualties. The actual number of civilian casualties is likely to be much higher as civilian deaths and injuries continue to be verified. In terms of displacement, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reports that more than 1.5 million people have fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries over the past 10 days, including more than 885,000 people in Poland alone, along with over 169,000 in Hungary, nearly 114,000 in Slovakia and more than 84,000 in the Republic of Moldova.

OHCHR reports 503 casualties in Donetska and Luhanska oblasts (65 killed and 309 injured in Government-controlled areas and 23 killed and 106 injured in non-Government-controlled areas) and 620 civilian casualties in other regions of Ukraine. Eastern Ukraine continues to suffer the greatest human costs of escalating hostilities, recording nearly 45 per cent of all civilian casualties across the country so far. On 5 March, the most extensive damages to civilian infrastructure were witnessed in Bucha (Kyivsky oblast), Cherniv (north), Kharkiv (north-east) and Korosten (north).

Violent clashes continue to intensify outside Kyiv as Russian forces move closer to the capital. Urgent evacuations remain impossible in the towns of Bucha and Hostomel outside the capital that have come under increasingly intense attacks in recent days. In Borodianka, a small town some 60 km from Kyiv, a psychiatric hospital has been reportedly impacted by the military offensive with around 670 people inside – including patients with special needs who require continuous, roundthe-clock assistance, some of whom have been bedridden for years. According to local authorities, the hospital is quickly running out of water and essential medicines.

The growing health needs emerging from the conflict are placing increasing pressure on an already-strained health system dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic for the past two years. As the geographic scope of the conflict expands, more than 200 health facilities are now located along active conflict lines or in changed areas of control, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). There are already signs of a lack of available beds for trauma patients and people with other conditions, like COVID-19, while it is likely that health personnel shortages will emerge due to ongoing insecurity and the displacement of health workers themselves, with the Ministry of Health already suspending scheduled hospitalizations and elective procedures.

Children in conflict-stricken areas and those displaced by the conflict – the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says around 500,000 children have already fled Ukraine – continue to be disproportionately affected. Following the closure of schools countrywide due to ongoing hostilities, access to education has been impacted for around 5.7 million children and adolescents between 3 and 17 years of age. According to the Ministry of Education and Science, at least 160 educational facilities have been damaged, although this figure has yet to be verified by the Education Cluster. The current circumstances only further exacerbate the multi-faceted impacts on educational outcomes and mental health for children and adolescents brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing the risk of school dropout rates and negative coping mechanisms.