After four years of destruction and the coldest winter yet, UNHCR’s Salih urges support for Ukraine

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih (right) speaks to Nina (left) at a transit centre in Zaporizhzhia, southeast Ukraine, after she was evacuated from her bomb damaged home with her daughter and three grandchildren.

© UNHCR/Nikola Ivanovski

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Barham Salih, today urged sustained international solidarity and stronger support for Ukrainians awaiting much-needed peace.

HC Salih travelled to Ukraine as the full-scale invasion enters its fifth year with intensified attacks during the harshest winter of war so far. Repeated Russian strikes on energy infrastructure have left millions without electricity and heating in freezing temperatures, while escalating hostilities along the front line continue to force people to flee their homes.

“I've come to Ukraine in this dark hour to show solidarity with its people, to see how UNHCR is contributing to the government-led efforts, and to reaffirm our commitment to stand with Ukraine at this difficult time and beyond,” he said, concluding his first visit to the country. “Nothing can compensate the losses in this war, and the many lives lost, but we can help Ukraine and its people recover and rebuild.”

Over several days in Kyiv and front-line cities – Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv – UNHCR's chief met families whose homes had been damaged by glide bombs and missiles and people recently evacuated from front-line communities. He observed UNHCR’s emergency assistance after strikes and in transit centres for displaced people; legal aid for those who lost documents to ensure their access to rights and services; and work to repair war-damaged houses to allow people to remain in their homes or return.

“The destruction I have