Millions of Ukrainians who fled Russia’s full-scale invasion and later returned home are at risk of being displaced again over the coming winter, the United Nations warned Friday.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration said repeated Russian attacks on civilian energy infrastructure were leaving families with few alternatives.
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“Winter is fast approaching in Ukraine and for many Ukrainians the months ahead could be the most difficult since the full-scale war began,” said Arthur Erken, the IOM’s regional director for Europe and central Asia.
“Millions of Ukrainians who fled and returned are now at risk of being displaced once again, as conditions deteriorate by the day and people face desperate choices in the struggle to survive.”
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the biggest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.
- Fragile existence -
The agency estimates that nearly 3.6 million people remain internally displaced within Ukraine. Around 3.8 million people have returned to their homes, which are often damaged.
It said an estimated 1.45 million returnees lived in frontline districts, including 565,000 in the Kharkiv region alone.
Erken said Russian drone attacks “tend to attack civilian infrastructure”, and repeated strikes had damaged Ukraine’s electricity, heating and water systems.
He said reliable access to water was an urgent concern because water systems depend on electricity.
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The attack also damaged a community swimming pool and a school across the road.
The IOM has developed 31 solar power stations across the country to support water systems, as these were “harder to attack and harder to destroy completely”.
Erken said that for 2.1 million older people living alone in apartment blocks, a prolonged loss of heat or electricity “can quickly become a humanitarian emergency”.
“Alternatives to electricity, including gas stoves and fuel, will be critical this winter,” he told a press briefing in Geneva, speaking from Vienna.
Erken said Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic were hosting the largest number of Ukrainian refugees.
“I’m sure that these countries are preparing for the eventuality that Ukrainians will try to leave the country, should the situation deteriorate,” he said.
The IOM said less than seven percent of its Ukraine crisis response plan for 2026 has been funded.
“The international community must act now,” said Erken.