UN Warns of ‘Deadly Triple Crisis’ for Women and Girls in Ukraine
It's been four years Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The country is facing repeated attacks energy infrastructure and collapsing funding for women-led and women’s rights organizations.
More than 5,000 women and girls are known to have been killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago, and last year was the deadliest yet, according to a new report published by the United Nations on Friday.
The UN also found that at least 14,000 women and girls have been injured since the invasion in 2022. But the real toll for both deaths and injuries is likely far higher, the organization said.
More broadly, the report highlights what the UN describes as a “deadly triple crisis,” consisting of the ongoing war, repeated attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure that have caused severe disruptions to power and essential services, and collapsing funding for women-led and women’s rights organizations.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva after the publication of the latest figures, UN Women’s chief of humanitarian action, Sofia Calltorp, described the impact of energy blackouts occurring across the country. According to the report, 65% of Ukraine's energy infrastructure has been destroyed by attacks. Calltorp explains it’s far more than “just technical disruptions.” Not only are families left without heating and electricity during hard winter weather, loss of power also “directly undermines women's safety, protection and economic security,” she said. Extended darkness, a lack of street lighting and disrupted transport, she added, “severely restrict women's mobility and increase exposure to harassment and accidents.”
The pressures facing women are also being compounded by a sharp decline in resources for the groups supporting them. Collectively, funding cuts in 2025 and 2026 mean that women-led organizations in Ukraine are projected to have lost more than $53 million by the end of this year according to a UN Women representative. Women’s rights and women-led groups have warned that they will be forced to halt life-saving services for at least 63,000 women and girls in need.
Those likely to be hit hardest include women and girls living in front-line and rural areas, older women, women-headed households, and women and girls with disabilities.
