HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN UKRAINE 2023

Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine has led to a humanitarian crisis in the country.

According to preliminary data from the regional military administrations as of June 2023, the total number of residential infrastructure destroyed or damaged as a result of hostilities is estimated at around 167,200, including 147,800 private houses, 19,100 apartment buildings and 35,000 dormitories. As a result of the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam, almost 37,000 more residential buildings, most of which are located in the Kherson region, were threatened with flooding. The cities of Mariupol, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sievierodonetsk, Rubizhne, Bakhmut, Maryinka, Lysychansk, Popasna, Izyum and Volnovakha suffered the most damage. For example, in Sievierodonetsk, according to preliminary estimates, 90% of the residential infrastructure was damaged, while Bakhmut and Maryinka were almost completely destroyed.

The infrastructure sector (transport, road construction, railways, aviation and the port industry) is second in terms of total damage, with an estimated $36.6 billion in total losses. Since the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, 19 airports and civilian airfields, as well as at least 126 railway stations have been damaged. The explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant also damaged port terminals on both sides of the Dnipro River and flooded roads in Kherson region.

The loss of business assets is estimated at $11.4 billion. Since the beginning of the conflict, at least 426 large and medium-sized private enterprises and state-owned companies have been damaged or destroyed. The number of destroyed businesses is likely to be higher than the official figures due to the lack of information on facilities in the temporarily occupied territories. The damage to the Kakhovka HPP caused limited damage to businesses due to the previous significant impact of hostilities, which forced businesses to relocate or close their operations in the affected areas.

There have also been serious losses in the education sector, with direct damage to educational institutions estimated at $9.7 billion. In total, the hostilities damaged almost 3,400 educational institutions. The most significant losses from destruction and damage to educational institutions were recorded in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia and Kyiv regions.

As of June 2023, direct damage to the Ukrainian energy infrastructure is estimated at $8.8 billion, of which $638 million is direct damage from the explosion of hydroelectric power plants. Another $8.7 billion is estimated to be direct losses in agriculture due to the hostilities. Total losses from destruction and damage to social institutions, education, healthcare, cultural facilities, sports facilities and administrative buildings are estimated at around $5.9 billion.

(The total amount of direct damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure caused due to the war as of June 2023 exceeded $150 billion – Kyiv School of Economics (kse.ua))

According to UNICEF estimates for the first months of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, by April 2022, approximately 1.4 million Ukrainians in the east of the country were completely deprived of access to clean water, while 4.6 million people had limited access. The World Health Organisation’s report on the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine states that 17.7 million people were left without assistance in 2022.

The overall civilian casualties are enormous: according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), 17,994 civilian casualties were confirmed by the end of December 2022, including 429 deaths and 808 injuries to children. This figure is significantly higher than the 10,106 confirmed civilian deaths and injuries in the previous eight years of conflict, but represents only a fraction of the actual casualties due to difficulties in the verification process, including lack of access to areas under Russian Federation control.

As of June 2023, more than 8 million Ukrainian citizens are abroad, representing approximately 20% of the country’s population as of 24 February 2022. Another 5 million have been displaced within Ukraine. The displacement crisis has increased dramatically, resulting in urgent humanitarian needs, including the need to provide shelter for the most vulnerable.

People are losing stability, families, housing, jobs, physical and psychological health. Many face difficulties in gaining access to food, water, healthcare, education and safe places to live, as well as other basic necessities.

Due to the destruction of civilian infrastructure across the country, the provision of basic services such as electricity, water and heating has been severely affected. In the last quarter of 2022, sustained attacks on energy infrastructure led to an energy crisis that has put the entire country under severe strain and added a new dimension to the humanitarian crisis in the autumn and winter. Millions of people in different parts of Ukraine were left without electricity, heat and water supply for several days. In the frontline areas, where the lack of water, electricity and gas has been going on for months, the problems are further exacerbated by the energy crisis.

The war has left a significant number of people, including children, with mental trauma. According to the authorities, approximately 15 million Ukrainians are in need of psychosocial assistance due to the war. The World Health Organisation also estimates that at least 9.6 million people may face mental disorders after experiencing the horrors of war. The effects of war, including coping with war trauma, social isolation, the daily difficulties of surviving without electricity and heating, and the challenges of displacement, are expected to affect mental health for at least five years after the conflict ends.

Restrictions on humanitarian access (https://reports.unocha.org/ru/country/ukraine/)

ENERGOPROMPROEKT is actively involved in government programmes to restore the housing stock damaged/destroyed as a result of armed aggression. Today, Energopromproekt works closely with the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, the Municipal Waste Management Company, and has signed a Memorandum of Strategic Cooperation with the Department of Housing and Communal Services of the Kharkiv City Council.

The need to eliminate the destruction and consequences of the aggression is extremely important in overcoming the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. With this in mind, from June 2022 to November 2023, ENERGOPROMPROEKT carried out a visual inspection of 480 residential, administrative and industrial facilities affected by shelling. In addition, 130 detailed (instrumental) surveys of the affected facilities, including 6 architectural monuments, were carried out.

ENERGOPROMPROEKT experts provide technical support to the SES units during the priority emergency rubble removal works. Thus, work was carried out at 46 facilities, 10 of which are architectural monuments of Kharkiv.

For example, the technical condition of the building at 39 Tarasenko Street, which is important for Kharkiv residents and the architectural face of the city, is currently being inspected. In October 2023, a Russian missile destroyed a historic 3-storey building, killing two people, including a child, and injuring several dozen.

House at 39 Tarasenko Street before

(https://moniacs.kh.ua/uk/vul-georgiya-tarasenka-39/)

The apartment building consisting of 28 flats and a shop was designed by Kharkiv architect Hrytsevskyi in 1925.

House at 39 Tarasenko Street after

To date, ENERGOPROMPROEKT specialists have developed working projects for the overhaul of 24 damaged buildings.

Back in February 2022, a nine-storey residential building at 6 Metrobudivnykiv Street suffered significant damage and destruction. Hundreds of families lost their homes.

As a result of the munitions entering the building and the subsequent fire, the exterior wall panels were destroyed, the end wall panels deviated from their vertical position by up to 300 mm, the floor slabs were destroyed and damaged, numerous fragmentary damage to structures, the glazing of window openings and window frames was partially destroyed, and the facade of the residential building was partially damaged.

House at 6 Metrobudivnykiv Street before

(https://photobuildings.com/photo/01/63/19/163191.jpg)

House at 6 Metrobudivnykiv Street after

Currently, ENERGOPROMPROEKT specialists are working on a project for emergency restoration works (overhaul) of this apartment building.

House at 6 Metrobudivnykiv Street project

The company plans to implement important and promising initiatives to restore and modernize the city and the country. The war poses many challenges, and we are ready to accept them and work for the prosperity of Ukraine.