Human costs of war has been drammatically increased over past days.
According to UN OCHA in Ukraine, civilian causalties were 1,123 between 24 February and 5 March (364 killed), with an increasing by 410% since the beginning of the conflict. Humanitarian agencies and NGOs have been experiencing troubles in recording victims (injuries and deaths) across the country, so this figures are likely to be much higher.
As military operations scale up, 18 million of people are expected to be affected, of which 6.7 are going to become IDPs. According to UNHCR, 1.5 million of people have crossed the borders with neighbouring countries as per 5 March, with Poland bearing most of weight of fleeing, followed by Hunagary, Slovakia and Moldava.
Despite the urgent appeal to safe passages for humanitarian reasons, the parts have no found a stable agreement for ceasefire and in many cases time for evacuation has been postponed. Generally speaking, the ceasefire does not work all over the country in the same manner. In Mariupol, Volnovakha, Bucha and Hostomel evacuations were not possible due to intense fighting.
Children bear the burden of this conflict. Those affected by serious illnesses and under constant medical treatments cannot be evacuated by the main cities and according to UNICEF over 500,000 fled Ukraine and 5.7 million children and adolescents are expected to be affected by lack of education. Ukrainian Ministry of Education registered 160 educational facitilities being attacked and damaged.
Access to humanitarian aid remains critical. Provision of life-saving humanitarian relief supplies, including food, water and medicine, to affected people who have been cut off from medical assistance because of military operations across Ukraine, is is still hard and blocked in certain cities like Kherson.
WHO reports serious damages to health facilities along the line of contact, with beds unavailable for trauma patients and people in need to be hospitalized. WHO's projections report critical shortage of medical personnel in the next days, while Ukrainian Ministry of Health has suspended already scheduled hospitalization in all the country.
by Sara Gorelli
