Last year was the deadliest for women during the war, with more than five thousand confirmed deaths and 14,000 injuries. Ukraine: The country’s most vulnerable residents bear the brunt of the war Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer Peace and security
Four years after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, millions of Ukrainians face many difficulties, including interruptions in the supply of heat and light. However, the crisis is having a particularly hard impact on women and vulnerable groups. Representatives of UN humanitarian agencies warned about this on Friday, speaking at a briefing in Geneva.
Status of women
Returning from a recent trip to the country, UN Women’s head of humanitarian programs, Sophia Collthorpe, spoke to reporters in Geneva about the suffering of Ukrainian families left without heating, electricity and reliable shelter in extreme cold conditions. Sixty-five percent of Ukraine’s energy capacity, she said, was destroyed as a result of deliberate attacks.
“These power outages are not just technical glitches,” she said. “They directly undermine women’s safety, protection and economic stability.”
Many Ukrainian women work where long-term blackouts take their greatest toll – in education, health care, social services, retail – and now these women are increasingly losing their jobs.
“In Kyiv, in a large heated tent set up to support people, I met Irina,” Collthorpe said. “She told me: ‘No electricity – no school for my children and no job for me. So there will be nothing to live on…'”
Last year was the deadliest year for women during the entire war: more than five thousand deaths and 14 thousand injuries were confirmed.
One in three women’s organizations in the country may not be able to survive for more than six months, according to a recent study on the impact of aid cuts.
“They risk losing at least $53.9 million by the end of the year,” said UN Women spokeswoman Sabine Fraser-Gunes. – If this situation continues, approximately 63 thousand Ukrainian women in 2026 will lose access to critical services such as support for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.
The crisis is draining both the most vulnerable and the most resilient
Long-term power outages pose a deadly threat to the most vulnerable: the elderly, people with disabilities and chronic illnesses. The psychosocial consequences of the energy crisis are no less serious: darkness, isolation and constant uncertainty exhaust even the most resilient. Jamie Wa, deputy head of the Ukrainian representative office of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told reporters about this, speaking via video link from Kyiv.
Attacks on hospitals
The devastating impact of the conflict on people’s health is exacerbated by persistent attacks on hospitals and clinics. Over the past four years, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded more than 2,870 confirmed attacks, resulting in 233 deaths and 937 injuries, including both health workers and patients.
“Medical institutions are operating at the limit of their capacity, there are not enough staff, the infrastructure is damaged,” warned World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier.
According to WHO, since February 2022, the number of people with disabilities among the residents of Ukraine has increased by almost 390 thousand, or more than 10 percent. “Numbers are one thing. The stories behind them are much more,” emphasized Christian Lindmeier.