Since 24 February 2022, INSO has recorded 26,458 incidents. While the past year’s hostilities have not directly translated to a proportional rise in NGO incidents, which remained relatively low, there remain extreme risks for humanitarians operating in southern and eastern Ukraine. NGOs should anticipate increasing levels of physical risk to staff and assets in both regions, as evidenced by an uptick in lethal NGO incidents in Q4 2022 and Q1 2023.
With the recent renewed Russian offensive and a Ukrainian counteroffensive anticipated, measures imposed by Ukrainian forces will continue to pose access limitations. And as civil-military coordination with Russian forces remains unreliable, NGOs delivering aid near front-line areas will continue to be exposed to severe collateral risk.
Missile strikes targeting critical infrastructure and logistics routes across the North-Centre and West will remain a threat to NGO movements. Unexploded ordnance is also likely to be present in recaptured areas, posing severe access challenges to NGOs delivering aid.
We have developed a Snapshot that explores the impact of the conflict in Ukraine on NGOs since 24 February 2022, and what our team has achieved so far.
INSO Ukraine was established in 2015 to monitor conflict in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts. Following the offensive that began in February 2022, INSO has scaled up to a full program. We are grateful to the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Union (ECHO) and USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), for their support which has allowed for this coverage.