Humanitarians support civilians affected by recent attacks in Ukraine

“Our colleagues in Ukraine just told us that new attacks today struck Poltava in the centre of the country. Initial reports indicate a number of civilian casualties,” he told journalists attending his daily briefing at UN Headquarters, in New York.

At least 50 people were killed, and more than 200 injured, when two Russian missiles hit a military training facility and nearby hospital in the city, according to media reports.

Kharkiv attacks condemned

The attack came in the wake of airstrikes in Kharkiv city, in northeastern Ukraine, on 30 August and 1 September. Six people were killed and 150 were injured, including 30 children, according to authorities.

“Our humanitarian partners on site also noted large-scale damage to civilian infrastructure,” Mr. Dujarric said.

“More than 90 residential buildings, a shopping centre and sports facilities, as well as two education facilities, were damaged by the attacks.”

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Matthias Schmale, condemned the repeated attacks. 

“Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected in accordance with international humanitarian law,” he said in a statement.

Other areas under fire

Meanwhile, aid workers in Kharkiv mobilized immediately and provided medical and psychosocial support.

More than a dozen non-governmental organizations (NGOs) delivered repair materials and covered over 400 shattered windows during the past two days.

Humanitarians also noted that other parts of Ukraine – notably in Sumy and Donetsk regions and Kyiv, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia areas – also suffered from deadly strikes and attacks over the weekend and Monday.  

Nuclear safety support

Separately, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will step up nuclear safety assistance to Ukraine following a number of missile attacks that either directly caused the disconnection of several nuclear power reactors or led to dangerous instability of the national grid.

IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi announced the development after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the capital, Kyiv, on Tuesday.

An expert team from the UN agency will soon travel to some of the damaged Ukrainian sub-stations – electrical switchyards forming the backbone of the grid – that have been identified as essential for nuclear safety.

Members will assess the situation at the sites and report back regarding any possible follow-up actions.

An increasingly vulnerable situation

Mr. Grossi stressed that the safety of operating nuclear power plants is dependent on a stable and reliable connection to the electricity grid.

“As a result of the war, the situation is becoming increasingly vulnerable and potentially even dangerous in this regard,” he said.

“I agreed with President Zelenskyy that the IAEA will widen its determined activities to help prevent a nuclear accident during the conflict and look closer at this important aspect of nuclear safety and security.”

The IAEA already has specialist teams stationed at all of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. The sub-stations essential for nuclear safety are located in different parts of the country, thus making the evaluation of these facilities also relevant, the agency added.

Ensuring energy security

Increased pressure on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure over the past six months has caused instability in the grid, posing serious problems for the nuclear power plants.

Widespread strikes targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on 26 August caused major fluctuations in the power supply and led to the temporary shutdown or disconnection of reactor units at the Rivne and South Ukraine nuclear power plants, one of which has still not returned to full operation. The off-site power situation at the Khmelnytskyy nuclear power plant and Chornobyl site was also affected.

Meanwhile, the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, located on the frontline of the conflict, has suffered eight “complete loss of power events”, forcing temporary reliance on diesel generators. The plant lost connection to its sole remaining 330 kilovolt (kV) back-up power line on Monday evening, leaving it dependent on one single 750 kV line.

Mr. Grossi will travel to Zaporizhzhya later this week, marking his fifth visit to the plant since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.   However, he also underlined the nuclear safety and security risks at Ukraine’s other sites.

“The heightened vulnerability of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is deeply concerning for nuclear safety at Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, as we saw last week when several reactors stopped operating because of damage to the energy infrastructure elsewhere in the country,” he said.

“Ensuring that the sub-stations can operate normally for safety related purposes is also of paramount importance for energy security in Ukraine, as the country to a large extent relies on the nuclear power plants for much of its electricity generation.”