Ukraine, UNHCR warns of possible increase in displaced people from Kharkiv due to Russian offensive

Brussels – The Russian offensive in northeastern Ukraine has intensified significantly. So much so that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is “extremely concerned” about the worsening situation in the Kharkiv region, from which, the UN agency warns, many citizens seeking protection may be forced to leave.

In recent weeks, Moscow’s military has reinvigorated its ground offensive, accompanying it with incessant air strikes indiscriminately targeting non-military targets. On May 19, the Russian air force bombed a recreational area in the village of Cherkaska Lozova in the Kharkiv region, killing six people and wounding at least 27. In addition, attacks on energy infrastructure affecting people across Ukraine are particularly critical in Kharkiv, where energy supply is already “well below standard capacity,” affecting households, production capacity, and the economy.

According to UNCHR data, in the last week alone, Ukrainian authorities – with the help of volunteers and humanitarian organizations – have evacuated over 10,300 people from their villages in the border areas of the Kharkiv region,  most of whom “are already highly vulnerable,” especially “older people and those with low mobility or disabilities who were not able to flee earlier.”

The city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest population center, already hosts some 200,000 internally displaced persons. But to accommodate the new refugees, UNHCR and national partners, Proliska and Right to Protection, immediately set up a transit center. However, the UN agency fears that conditions in Kharkiv “may become even more difficult if the ground offensive and incessant air strikes continue.” Even if the “vast majority” of displaced people express a clear desire to remain in the city, this “could force many to leave Kharkiv for safety and survival, seeking protection elsewhere.”

At the same time, according to UNHCR, thousands continue to flee from frontline communities in the Donetsk, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson areas to the central and western regions. Ukrainian refugees can still access temporary protection status in the European Union, which Brussels extended to March 2025. According to the EU statistical office, as of March 31, 2024, EU countries  hosted some 4.2 million people who fled Ukraine following the Russian invasion. A figure that has remained stable over the past year of conflict but could rise again if Moscow succeeds in moving the front line westward.