ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Ukraine could face a new humanitarian disaster as winter approaches, a United Nations official warned as Russian attacks cripple the country’s already-damaged energy infrastructure.
“If the level of energy destruction continues and the winter becomes very harsh, we will have a catastrophe within a catastrophe of thousands of people stuck in high-rise buildings without heating and water,” Matthias Schmale, UN humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine told reporters in New York on Thursday.
Schmale recently returned from a visit to Ukraine where he said the scale of the destruction is significantly higher compared to last year. UN-supported efforts to repair essential services, he added, are struggling to keep up with the strikes.
“The level of recovery work, including supported by the UN, UNEP [UN Environment Programme] in particular, is not able to hold this at the same pace as destruction,” Schmale said. “We are racing against time doing the repair work as best as we can as an international community with the authorities.”
Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict are intensifying as temperatures begin to drop. The United States has put forward a peace proposal and high-level discussions between US and Russian officials took place in Moscow on Tuesday. US President Donald Trump confirmed that White House envoy Steve Witkoff and advisor Jared Kushner met Russian President Vladimir Putin for nearly five hours.
“President Putin had a very good meeting yesterday with Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff,” Trump said on Thursday. “What comes out of that meeting, I can't tell you.”
This winter marks the fourth since the war began. Schmale said he is not optimistic that a resolution will be reached before the freezing cold months ahead.
Namo Abdulla contributed to this article.