The lives of millions of people are at risk in Ukraine this winter – WHO
- George Wright, Catherine Byaruhanga
- BBC News
The lives of millions of people in Ukraine will be at risk these winters, the World Health Organization says.
Half of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is damaged or destroyed, and 10 degrees Celsius are left without electricity, says Dr. Hans Henry P. Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe.
It is expected that the temperature in some regions will drop to -20 degrees.
Since the start of the Russian invasion in February, the WHO has documented 703 attacks on health infrastructure.
Last week, Russia hit even more energy facilities and civilian buildings in one of the heaviest aerial bombardments of the war.
This tactic the Russians began to actively use after failures on the battlefield, and its impact begins to be felt more acutely with the onset of winter.
“Simply put, this winter will be about survival,” Dr. Kluge said at a press conference in Kyiv.
Ukraine’s health care system is “going through the darkest days of the war,” and the best solution is to end the conflict, he added.
Due to the attacks, the second doctor and medical facilities are not functioning to the full extent, they lack fuel, water and electricity to meet basic needs, he said.
Delivery rooms need incubators, blood banks need refrigerators, and intensive care beds need ventilators, all of which require electricity, Dr. Kluge added.
According to the WHO, up to three million people may leave their homes in search of warmth and safety.
Dr. Kluge said he was deeply concerned about the 17,000 HIV-infected people in Donetsk “who may soon run out of vital antiretroviral drugs that help them survive.”
He also called for the “urgent creation of a humanitarian corridor to recently recaptured and occupied areas.”
There is also concern about the rise of covid.
“With low levels of basic vaccination – let alone revaccination – millions of Ukrainians have weakened or no immunity to Covid,” said Dr Kluge.
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which used to produce more than 25% of electricity in Ukraine, no longer produces it.
Over the weekend, shelling resumed there. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, condemned these attacks on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the shelling.