Ukraine internal displacement nears 1 million as fighting escalates in Donetsk region
Ukraine puts the number of registered IDPs at 980,000. Also, 600,000 Ukrainians have sought asylum or other forms of legal stay in neighbouring countries.
KYIV, Ukraine, February 6 (UNHCR) - The UN refugee agency reported on Friday that fighting in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region is creating new displacement and pushing the number of registered internally displaced people (IDP) close to the 1 million mark.
Ukraine's Ministry of Social Policy puts the number of registered IDPs countrywide at 980,000 - a figure that is expected to rise as more newly uprooted people are being registered. In addition, some 600,000 Ukrainians have sought asylum or other forms of legal stay in neighbouring countries, particularly the Russian Federation, but also Belarus, Moldova, Poland, Hungary and Romania, since February 2014.
Spokesman Adrian Edwards told journalists in Geneva that UNHCR teams were reporting that heavy fighting in the Donetsk region over the last two weeks has resulted in massive destruction of buildings and infrastructure and in the collapse of basic services.
"Local authorities have begun to evacuate people from conflict areas, but many are still trapped by the fighting, including in basements and buildings under constant bombardment. The evacuations are being organized by the government helped by local volunteers," he said.
More than 2,800 civilians, including about 700 children and 60 people living with disability, have been evacuated from the towns of Debaltseve, Avdiivka and Svitlodar, which have seen fierce combat. Several incidents of shelling of buses carrying the evacuees have been reported.
The Ukrainian government has said it is concerned that areas close to the frontline, which are also under heavy shelling, will not be able to accommodate the new arrivals. Therefore, people will have to be moved further away to central, southern and western parts of the country.
Evacuees are being taken to government-controlled towns to the north of Donetsk such as Slovyansk, Sviatohirsk, Kramatorsk and Grodivka, as well as to the nearby Kharkiv region. They are being transported in cars and buses and, in the case of the most vulnerable, by train. Some evacuees are temporarily accommodated in train carriages at the railway station in Slovyansk, awaiting onwards transportation.
Apart from the organized evacuations, civilians continue to flee the conflict areas by their own means, facing numerous dangers along the way. "As more homes and other civilian infrastructure is damaged or destroyed, UNHCR expects more people to be displaced to areas in central, southern and western Ukraine under the control of the Ukrainian government, but also to non-government controlled areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions," Edwards said.
Our teams on the ground report that many of the recently displaced are arriving with very few belongings and without proper winter clothes. To address the most urgent needs, UNHCR, through local NGO networks, has started to distribute relief items in northern areas of the Donetsk region, the main place of arrival of IDPs from the conflict areas. Some 2,000 of the most vulnerable new arrivals received blankets, sleeping bags, bed linen, warm clothes and jerry cans.
Additionally, some 1,600 newly arrived IDPs from Debaltsevo and Vuhlehirsk have been assisted by UNHCR partners in conflict-affected areas which are not controlled by the government.
The lack of access to public services previously provided by the central authorities has drastically worsened the plight of the civilian population in areas not under government control. This has been further aggravated by restrictions to the movement of people and goods. The surge in fighting has further limited the supply of urgently needed goods in the conflict areas.
"UNHCR maintains its call on all parties to the conflict to refrain from any actions that might endanger the life of civilians and to adhere to the principles of international humanitarian law," Edwards stressed.
By Nina Sorokopud in Kyiv, Ukraine
Related news and stories
Ukraine's refugees find long-term support in Europe's host countries
Women-run businesses in Afghanistan dealt a blow by deepening restrictions
After conflict, the displaced of Central African Republic dream of going home
Across borders, South Sudan's displaced call for peace
Six faces of the forcibly displaced in Ukraine
UNHCR: Funding gap of US$295m in Yemen jeopardizes life-saving humanitarian aid
Your search for « donetsk » matched 110 results. Displaying page 4 of 13 pages.
-
The approach of winter threatens thousands of displaced Ukrainians
4 Dec 2014 ... who fled his community just outside Donetsk when shells began to fall on his neighbourhood ... Narine, who fled her home in the city of Donetsk earlier in the year. "I volunteered because I ...... -
Ukraine displacement worsening as winter looms
24 Oct 2014 ... The need for humanitarian aid is increasing particularly around Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, and in the ... Some 95 per cent of the displaced are from eastern Ukraine, and are concentrated in Donetsk and ...... -
Winter looms as fighting continues to displace people in Ukraine
24 Oct 2014 ... He added that the need for humanitarian aid was rising, particularly around the cities of Donetsk, ... Some 95 per cent of the displaced are from eastern Ukraine and are concentrated in Donetsk, Kharkiv, ...... -
UNHCR Supplementary Appeal - Internally Displaced People in Ukraine - August 2014
26 Aug 2014 ... IDPs in the East Region RUSSIAN FEDERATION DNIPROPETROVSK DONETSK KHARKIV LUHANSK a POLTAVA SUMY ... At the same time, numerous spontaneous returns are reported to the northern parts of Donetsk oblast ...... -
Evaluation of UNHCR's Ukraine Country Programme
Sep 2017 ... ... and UN Logistics Hub (Donetsk) 39 While interviews with donors, ... 90 In Donetsk, accreditation does not affect ...... Attachments: Management Response and 1-year update (.zip) -
Ukraine conflict uproots hundreds of thousands
5 Dec 2014 ... territories in Donetsk and Luhansk as well as in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions. ... The rehabilitation of collective centres in Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and ...... -
Fighting displaces more than half a million people inside Ukraine, hundreds of thousands more into neighbouring countries
5 Dec 2014 ... and government-controlled territories in Donetsk (76,000) and Luhansk (30,000), as well as in ... The rehabilitation of collective centres in Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and ...... -
UNHCR sends aid for 2,500 residents of Avdiivka
3 Feb 2017 ... On Thursday afternoon, UNHCR teams jointly with local authorities and Donetsk Governor Pavlo Zhebrivskiy started direct deliveries in safe areas in the town. Priority was given to the most vulnerable ...... -
Uncertainty lingers for displaced Ukrainians as the conflict enters fourth year
11 Aug 2017 ... Safety and security remain major concerns for nearly 800,000 people living near the Line of Contact in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the country’s East. In June this year, the State Border ......