“I have been constantly hearing artillery bombardments,” he said, speaking of another “massive, coordinated attack” that reportedly hit civilian and energy infrastructure overnight.
The city’s children’s hospital was attacked eight times on Tuesday morningMammadzade added.
Childhood underground
With few places offering shelter in Kherson, daily life is “a matter of survival” for children and families in the front area, the UNICEF representative said.
The region is “almost completely covered in anti-drone networks” and childhood has “literally moved underground” he stressed.
Of about 60,000 children who lived in Kherson before the start of the full-scale Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, only about 5,000 remain, and they have to “Learn, play and sleep in basements just to stay safe..”
Mammadzade made his comments to reporters at a news conference in Geneva, as negotiators from Ukraine and Russia met in the Swiss city on Tuesday for two days of US-brokered talks.
Speaking of the basement converted into a UNICEF-run child protection center from which she was logging in, Mammadzade said there are “children in the next room playing and interacting with psychologists, which is beautiful to witness in places like Kherson because you hardly see people outside.”
‘Constant fear of attacks’
Aid workers who work with children “all talk about the levels of exhaustion that families are enduring due to live 24 hours a day in a state of hyperalert“, said.
The UNICEF official emphasized that attacks hitting civilian areas continue across the country, “even in areas we don’t necessarily talk about,” such as western Ukraine and the capital kyiv.
“Constant fear of attack, shelter in basements and isolation with limited social connection have left children struggling with the circumstances of this war, with their physical and mental health directly affected.”, he concluded.
Daily power outages
Arthur Erken, regional director for Europe at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), told reporters that due to attacks on civilian energy infrastructure “power outages now structure daily life when families cook, when children study, when hospitals schedule procedures.”
“With temperatures as low as -20 degrees Celsius, communities are facing severe shortages of heating, electricity and household repairs,” he added, with displaced people and recent returnees particularly affected.
Ukraine remains Europe’s biggest displacement crisis, Erken said. Of the 9.6 million people who have had to flee their homes, 3.7 million are internally displaced.
“In one in three displaced households, someone lives with a disability and in more than half, someone is actually managing a chronic illness.” he said. “These are not just statistics, but the daily realities that shape every decision, from health care to putting food on the table.”
‘Resilience alone cannot sustain families’
The IOM representative highlighted that even after four years of large-scale war, Ukrainians continue to flee in search of safety and basic services.
“In the last year, more than 450,000 people were displaced from their homes, many for the second or even third time,” he said.
Mr. Erken warned that 325,000 Ukrainian returnees could be displaced again in the coming monthsand more than a third of them are considering moving abroad again.
“Intentions to leave the country reflect the cumulative tension of insecurity, damaged housing and limited access to electricity and heat,” he said.
“TOAfter four years of war, resilience alone cannot sustain families through another winter of blackouts and freezing temperatures.s,” the IOM official insisted.
“Safe housing, reliable energy and essential services are not luxuries. They are essential for people’s survival, security and dignity,” he concluded.