“We are very concerned about people living in high-rise buildings in cities near the front lines – that could become a major crisis.“Matthias Schmale, humanitarian coordinator and UN resident in Ukraine, told reporters in Geneva.
Schmale’s comments came a day after a massive Russian attack across Ukraine reportedly targeted critical energy infrastructure in civilian areas.
high altitude target
With 705 munitions reportedly deployed, the bombardment was among the largest since the full-scale invasion of Russia began in 2022.
If people living in frontline cities like Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv or Dnipro, in high-rise apartment buildings, are “stuck without electricity or drinking water for days on end” during a harsh winter, Schmale explained, then “there is no way that with the resources available we can respond to a major crisis within a crisis.”
“Destroying energy production and distribution capacity when winter begins clearly impacts the civilian population and is a form of terror,” Schmale insisted. “The continued attacks across the country also give the feeling that no place is safe… in my almost year and a half there, I feel and perceive that the impact of this war on mental health is increasing,” he added.
drone wars
“This is increasingly a technological war, a drone war.”said the UN official, highlighting that drones were responsible for a third of all civilian casualties recorded in 2025.
This year there has been an overall 30 percent increase in civilian deaths compared to 2024.
Among the civilian victims of Thursday’s attack was a seven-year-old girl who died in hospital after an attack in the central region of Vinnytsia.
Earlier this week, an attack severely damaged a children’s hospital in the city of Kherson, injuring a child and health care workers.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded 364 attacks that affected health facilities in Ukraine between January and October 2025.
School horror
Schmale recounted his own recent experience, which he described as a “poignant moment,” of visiting a kindergarten in Kharkiv just after it had been hit by three missiles.
“I imagined that, as a parent, you would drop your children off in the morning at a kindergarten and then they would call you two and a half hours later… to pick up your traumatized children who had just had three missiles hit their kindergarten,” he said.
“This notion of safety for vulnerable people and children really gets violated all the time.”
Regarding the situation in the Ukrainian territories occupied by the Russian Federation, the UN humanitarian coordinator said that the longer the war continues, “the more we risk forgetting the vulnerable people” in those areas.
According to estimates, “around a million people are vulnerable in the so-called temporarily occupied territories,” he said.
Attack on citizens
Schmale also warned about the “attacks on fundamental rights” taking place there, “including attacks on citizens.”
“My understanding is that the occupation forces are insisting that Ukrainians now register for Russian documents in the occupied territories, and if they do not do so, they will be considered illegal and subject to deportation or arrest,” he said.
The U.N. official expressed further concern about declining funding for Ukraine’s humanitarian response, describing a “downward trend.”
“In 2022, we had over $4 billion for humanitarian work in Ukraine. (In) 2023, it was still $2.6 billion. Last year, surprisingly, in 2024, with everything else going on in the world, it was still $2.2 billion,” he said.
“This year we are at $1.1 billion, so far half of what we got last year and there are two months left” until the end of 2025, he added.