UN News Today 03 December 2025 |

Ukrainians brace for another winter of hardship amid Russian invasion

As NATO members met to discuss the Ukraine emergency on Wednesday following high-level talks between the White House and the Kremlin, the UN’s top aid official said that he’s deeply concerned about the toll on Ukrainians of repeated attacks by Russian armed forces.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian authorities reported that at least two people had been killed and three others injured in an apparent Russian drone strike on the eastern city of Ternivka, in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

UN Resident Coordinator in Ukraine, Matthias Schmale, warned that those most at risk now include at least half a million people living on or close to the frontline with Russia.

Together with partners, UN teams provide assistance while also recording attacks to ensure justice for victims in future.

Here’s Mr. Schmale now talking to UN News:

“…a fantastic team of 70 human rights monitors who do nothing else but document what they see as potential atrocities or war crimes. so that there can be accountability into the future…but I’ve heard many times from local officials as well as the population that we serve, ‘Thank you for coming. It means something to see the blue flag of the UN show up.’”

In the Donetsk region, fewer than 200,000 people remain in government-controlled areas. The authorities worry that at least half may leave this winter, increasing needs just as aid teams confront snow, ice and a constantly shifting frontline.

“Russian advances in certain areas, even if not decisive, have made access impossible for some communities,” Mr. Schmale told us.

UN deminers appeal for greater support to slow deadly legacy from world’s conflicts

The deadly legacy of conflicts old and new from Gaza to Sudan and beyond, continues to kill and maim civilians on a near-daily basis, mine action workers said on Wednesday.

Amid deep funding cuts for humanitarian work, they’ve been appealing for greater support for their lifesaving operations.

Needs are immense in Afghanistan, where 77 per cent of all casualties last year were children. Some 54 people are killed there every month by explosive remnants of war, said Nick Pond, who heads mine action work at the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) :

“It tends to be kids, mostly boys in the hills tending sheep and goats and they are picking up things of interest and playing with them or throwing stones at them – and killing or injuring themselves.”

A lack of funding for demining work in Afghanistan threatens projects beyond March next year.

The UN-led team there has been steadily depleted, Mr. Pond told journalists in Geneva. “In 2011 there were 15,000 people working in demining, and now we’ve got about 1,300,” he said.

Gaza: As fragile ceasefire holds, aid teams continue vital work

To Gaza, where UN aid teams report that 18 patients have been medically evacuated to Jordan and Türkiye, while health care in the enclave remains ravaged by war.

In total, more than 10,600 Palestinians have been allowed to leave since October 2023 when the conflict erupted, and 235 have exited Gaza since ceasefire began on 10 October.

Latest data from the aid coordination office, OCHA, notes that at least 3,600 pallets of relief supplies organized by the UN and partners were offloaded at Gaza crossings on Monday.

About 40 per cent of pallets contained food, followed by water, sanitation and hygiene items, in addition to shelter and nutrition supplies.

Other essential humanitarian work included the installation of more than 300 toilets in eight camps across Gaza, for 20,000 people.

Sewage network maintenance is also ongoing in Deir al Balah and Gaza City, along with work to repair the Southern Well in Khan Younis and the Al Zarka Water Well in Jabalya, North Gaza.

Daniel Johnson, UN News