About 18 million people that need humanitarian assistance in Ukraine today, the humanitarian situation is expected to worsen - UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Exclusive interview with spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Ukraine Saviano Abreu to the Interfax-Ukraine agency

What kind of aid and support has been provided by the UN to people affected by the Russian aggression in Ukraine since 24 February 2022?

From food, water, health services to cash, all essentials to maintain human dignity during this horrible time for the Ukrainian people. We had projects to support people in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts before the full-scale invasion. After 24.02.22 we had to expand this assistance to ensure that we could meet the growing needs. The full-scale invasion led to a grave humanitarian crisis here. There was a humanitarian situation in the country, but it was not as catastrophic as it is now. We’re talking about 18 million people that need humanitarian assistance. It’s almost half of the people that are in Ukraine now.

Last year, in 2022, we managed to dramatically increase humanitarian assistance. I'm talking about water, food, assistance with repairs, preparing the displacement centers where people are fleeing to, health services, education and cash assistance as well. We reached 16 million people in Ukraine last year. That is a remarkable number, taking into consideration that we had a really small operation in the country before . This continues now in 2023. We have already provided the same kind of support to almost 8 million people in 2023.

Do you expect that the number of people who need help will increase in the next months in Ukraine?

Unfortunately, what we could see in the first six months of the year is that the situation is getting worse. Especially in the frontline the situation is getting worse and worse.

We do