“Resilience Needs Support”: First Interview with UNHCR’s in Ukraine New Representative Castel-Hollingsworth

In her first in-depth interview since becoming the UNHCR Representative in Ukraine in October 2025, Bernadette Castel-Hollingsworth speaks candidly with Interfax-Ukraine about the escalating humanitarian toll of the full-scale war. Four months into her mission, she has travelled extensively to frontline and heavily affected regions, engaging directly with authorities and displaced communities to grasp the actual needs on the ground. 

The conversation highlights the severity of 2025 — the deadliest year for civilians since the full-scale invasion began — with relentless attacks on energy infrastructure, widespread blackouts, and rising evacuations, especially of older people, persons with disabilities, and children. She details UNHCR’s major winter efforts, addresses funding challenges, demographic patterns among those leaving and wishing to return, the main barriers to return, and how prolonged displacement reduces return intentions. 

Looking to 2026, Castel-Hollingsworth outlines UNHCR’s threefold strategy: sustaining emergency response where needed, scaling up durable housing and social infrastructure solutions, and supporting government reforms through legal and protection expertise.  

Text: Valerie Proshchenko 

You have been here for four months. When you just started your mission, what was the first city you visited?   

The very first places I went to were Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Kherson — that was my first mission. My objective was to understand what we are doing on the ground.  Because we really work to complement the efforts of the government, I wanted to hear directly from local authorities — at the oblast level, from hromadas, from city mayors — to understand how they see things, whether they are satisfied with