25 humanitarian workers have died in Ukraine since February 2022, the UN says

The UN has condemned the “unacceptable” level of violence that has become commonplace against humanitarian workers, with a record 280 people killed worldwide in 2023.

In Ukraine, since February 2022, when Russia carried out a full-scale invasion, 25 humanitarian workers have died and 66 have been injured.

“According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission, in July 2024 alone, more than 1,200 civilians in Ukraine were killed or injured, which is the largest number of casualties among the civilian population since October 2022. The total number of dead and wounded has already exceeded 35,000. Schools and hospitals are under constant fire, especially in towns and villages located near the front line. International humanitarian law protects humanitarian workers, civilians and civilian infrastructure. They cannot be targeted,” Radio Liberty quoted the UN as saying.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reported that since February 2022, more than 150 incidents have occurred in Ukraine as a result of Russian attacks, which “directly affected humanitarian aid.” In the same period, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, more than 60 airstrikes were carried out on humanitarian warehouses.

Every year, the United Nations celebrates World Humanitarian Day on August 19, the anniversary of the 2003 attack on its headquarters in Baghdad. Then, as a result of the explosion, 22 people died, including Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN special representative in Iraq, and about 150 local and foreign humanitarian workers were injured.