UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters that access to the town had been “extremely difficult due to the continued fighting.” Of the 10,000 people who lived there before the full-scale invasion in February 2022, only about 500 remain, “most of them older people and people with disabilities.”

According to Ukrainian authorities, hostilities between Tuesday and Wednesday morning caused several civilian deaths and injuries, including children. The regions of Donetsk, Dnipro, Sumy and Kherson were reported to be the hardest hit.

In Zaporizhzhia region, a hospital and a pre-school were damaged, and thousands of people were left without heating following an attack, underscoring the strain on essential services as winter conditions persist.

Drone strike devastates family

Meanwhile, a Russian drone strike killed a father and three young children and left a pregnant woman critically injured in the town of Bohodukhiv in the Kharkiv region, humanitarian workers said on Wednesday.

The attack occurred around midnight Tuesday into Wednesday, completely destroying the family home, according to Olena Labzeva of the Humanitarian Mission Proliska.

The father, who had a disability, and the couple’s three children – including toddlers aged one and two – were killed.

A neighbour who heard the explosion pulled the injured woman from the burning rubble. She remains in an extremely serious physical and psychological condition in hospital.

Damage costs exceed $176 billion

Amid the ongoing violence, UN agencies are also supporting longer-term recovery efforts.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) said it has now helped clear one million tonnes of debris since the start of the full-scale invasion, restoring safe access to more than 200 public locations and enabling reconstruction at over 1,600 heavily damaged sites – including homes, schools and hospitals.

Direct damage to Ukraine’s buildings and infrastructure was estimated at $176 billion by the end of 2024, with debris posing a major obstacle to rebuilding and the return of residents.

Health system under severe strain

At the same time, the war’s devastation is placing additional pressure on the health system.

Repeated strikes on energy facilities have disrupted electricity, heating and water supplies, complicating care for pregnant women and newborns, particularly during freezing winter temperatures.

According to the UN reproductive health agency, UNFPA, doctors and nurses have reported power outages during complex surgical procedures.

They are also seeing more potentially life-threatening obstetric emergencies, including hypertension and uterine rupture, signalling a maternal health system under severe strain.

Just under 12 per cent of babies are born preterm in frontline areas – nearly double the national rate.

UNFPA is supplying maternity hospitals with back-up energy systems and life-saving reproductive health supplies, while calling for sustained international support.