UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : UNHCR: Kelly Clements on Ukraine

[Other language spoken]

Welcome to the press briefing of the Information system of the UN in Geneva.

Today is Tuesday, 12th of November.

We start a little bit earlier because we have the pleasure to have with us Kelly Clements, who's the, as you know, the Deputy **** Commissioner for Refugees, who is here as a special guest to tell us about Ukraine.

And this terrible anniversary was coming up of the 1000 days of the full scale war in this country.

Kelly, please, thank you very much and good morning to everybody.

Thank you for being with us online or here in the room.

[Other language spoken]

And as we are approaching 1000 days, as Sandra just mentioned, it is a grim reminder that the war continues and continues with a vengeance, with civilians caught in the middle.

We have seen, of course, 3.7 million internally displaced people and now 6.75 million refugees, primarily in Europe, and 14.6 million people in need inside the country.

The destruction, the level of destruction, the level of displacement, the constant air alerts and now the increased number of evacuations.

In fact 150,000 just in the last two months means that there are a number of civilians that are in great need with a war that continues with with the use of glide bombs, drones and the the number of communities now impacted are increasing.

We have as UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency invested heavily in local capacity and local delivery.

92% of our resources are currently going through local partners and local authorities and 16 out of 20 of our fiduciary partners are Ukrainian 450 community based organisations across the country and right now heavily involved in winter preparations and winter response.

Our trip last week coincided with the first snowfall.

It was already getting quite cold and this has been something that of course, we're quite concerned about with 65% of the energy infrastructure impacted and huge concerns that there will be another catastrophic hit on energy as Ukraine faces the coldest months.

Do we see an operation right now where there is a, it's basically 2 pronged.

In the West, we're looking at communities that are hosting large numbers of internally displaced, some of them displaced more than once and and looking at recovery and and rebuilding in terms of being able to restart their lives.

And of course, an active emergency response in the East and other parts of the country, the winter response in particular, we are aiming to reach 625,000 of the most vulnerable Ukrainians, primarily aged, those that are ready in a fragile situation, looking at ways that they can have alternatives to, to energy, other ways to insulate homes and so on.

And looking again at the what comes in terms of, of the winter months with regard to energy capacity and our support.

And that was one of the reasons why I did go to Harkiv.

Our support has has gone to some of the hardest hit areas, including Harkiv.

The the challenges of course, as we go into the winter months with the full scale invasion showing no signs of abating, includes education for kids.

And we did have an opportunity in Harkiv to visit Metro School.

We call it an underground school, which is we're trying to replicate across that city and other parts of Ukraine so that education can go on with some sense of normalcy in a very abnormal situation.

Energy, of course, we just spoke about and of course the winter, the winter kits and winter supplies that become so necessary.

Funding remains a huge issue, not just for UNHCR but other humanitarian organisations.

We're currently our, our refugee response plan is $1.1 billion and just over half of it has been met.

But we're almost to the end of the year, which means large numbers of, of large parts of our programme will not be implemented.

And inside the country, a humanitarian response plan that is just over $3 billion and again with not much more support than that from the international community.

So the humanitarian needs continue to be quite at a **** level and we're going into the most difficult part of the year with no signs of the war abating.

So I'll leave it at that.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you so very much, Kelly, to to come and tell us about this on this on the eve of this anniversary.

I'll open the floor now to questions.

[Other language spoken]

She's our correspondent of Radio France International.

Hi, Mr Clements, you mentioned energy.

I'd like to know if Ukraine is better off this year than last year in terms of energy.

We saw that there was a dam that was bombarded by the Russian forces a couple of days ago.

[Other language spoken]

Is it, is Ukraine better off at the start of the winter than than the previous year?

So in terms of energy, I can tell you that having spoken with government officials, this is probably one of their top priorities.

And with a reduction between 60 and 65% already going into this winter, I would say no.

In terms of that, that energy capacity, it's quite fragile.

That is where we're trying to undergird.

And obviously, we're not an Energy Agency per SE, but we're trying to at least get some of the most basic items, including through local authorities and government officials to some of those vulnerable families.

But yes, energy is a huge concern for the government.

Jamie, just to make sure, the 65% you mentioned, what is that?

Is it 65% capacity less than of the energy of the energy infrastructure?

[Other language spoken]

So 65% of the energy capacity like this is the the current status right now 65%.

[Other language spoken]

And do you know you, you said you're not an an Energy Agency, but do you have any idea what was it last year at that time of the year like a 65 was it more or less?

Can't go into those details.

[Other language spoken]

Jamie, you want to Sorry, I saw your hand 1st and then Nina, I am going to get an answer to the press.

Yeah, Hi, thank you for coming to see us.

Wanted to you mentioned that because of the budgetary, the funding issue, you're not going to be able to implement all of the programmes that you wanted to.

Can you be specific about which ones those are that will not be implemented by the end of the year because of this functional And just more broadly, we're heading into a change of government in the United States, as you know, and the incoming administration has or the president, President-elect Trump has has talked about, you know, both Ukraine trying to work out an arrangement for Ukraine and, and talked about, you know, well, let's just take it has taken a less multilateral approach than say his his than the current administration.

My question really is, could you help us lift the veil a little bit as to whether or not you expect a reduced funding both from the from the United States, both for Ukraine and, and all of its humanitarian needs, as well As for UNHCR in general?

If you could tell us whether or not you've gotten any signals that there may be less funding from from its largest donor.

[Other language spoken]

In terms of the the cuts or what we're not able to do without full support for for the either the refugee regional response plan or the humanitarian response plan.

What we tend to do, of course, is focus what resources we have on the most vulnerable.

So as you see a country with a a number of dynamics and in fact a paradox I would say where the West seemingly seemingly quite calm, normal, but with **** expectations in terms of being able to host the the large number of displaced from elsewhere in Ukraine, We would be unfortunately able to do less in those areas.

We would focus more on those areas that are subject to current bombardment, evacuation requirements and other emergency needs.

It doesn't mean that the requirements in the West of the country are not important.

It just means we have to put unfortunately too few resources in just a a limited number of places we are as we are able to get.

In fact, we we got some very encouraging news from from a couple of governments just in the last few days.

As we're able to even these last two months of the year, we can implement quite quickly.

For example, the winter, the winter programme which is underway.

We've reached about half of who we would like to get to in terms of winter kits that would be escalated with with additional resources as well as cash support.

Cash support so that families can, for example, identify additional fuel sources and otherwise to keep their homes warm.

Those are the areas where we can increase quite quickly with additional resources.

We can do unfortunately less if we don't have them.

In terms of the the change of of administration, obviously UNHCR is a humanitarian organisation and a political one.

We're used to working with administrations of of all sorts and we work with administrations in, in countries that change change quite quickly as well.

Our at this stage, you know, it's, we can't speculate.

There's we're just a few days into the results of the US election.

We would aim to work constructively and and well with the incoming Trump administration as we have with past administrations and the first Trump administration.

I would not be in a position at this point to give any indications in terms of funding, whether that's for Ukraine or for UNHCR.

What I can say is that the US has been an extremely valuable partner over at our our 75 years of history as an organisation and providing that kind of support even to operations very far from from the US shores provides of course not just being humanitarian needs, but important regional stability and International Security needs.

Quickly, because Kelly doesn't have much time, we want to take two more questions.

Just follow up, you mentioned that in the last few days you've got some encouraging news from a couple of governments.

Could you be a little bit more specific about that and what was the impetus for that?

I mean, is it partly because there's concern that there may be short funding shortfalls in other areas, so other countries are stepping up?

Can you tell?

Well, I was actually in in Saudi Arabia just before going to Ukraine and was able to sign an agreement for $10 million, including to deal with some of the winter requirements and the like.

This was a contribution that had been in the works for some time.

So that was not not necessarily new, but it certainly came at just the right time for us.

The United Kingdom has also come in importantly with support and we've received indications that Norway and a couple of others for Ukraine specifically.

Yeah, thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

So, yeah, Jamie asked my questions, but I'll, I'll follow up.

So just on, on the change of administration, if, if there is any type of contingency planning.

And then I wanted on the energy issue, if you're saying that it's not better off this year than than last.

I mean, considering that that people have been living through this now for 1000 days, I mean, given what level of resilience do they have and how concerned are you?

I mean, what's the biggest concern when it comes to energy?

Is it households or is it hospitals or you know what, could you just give some where you're saying the biggest concerns?

What's what are you most worried about?

[Other language spoken]

Well, we do contingency planning on a lot of things, but it's normally about potentially peace, not coming to parts of the world and and people moving.

I wouldn't, I wouldn't at this point talk about contingency planning with regard to change of administrations on the issues related to energy.

It's across the board, honestly, in terms of the households, I think the the big concern is that there would be a a a catastrophic hit in the middle of winter where you see freezing pipes bursting in apartment buildings with some of the most vulnerable who have not moved trapped or unable to continue to to subsist and to live in in too cold places.

So it's it's dwellings, but it's also, of course, importantly, places that would be able to support those civilians and needs, including hospitals and schools and other locations.

Thank you very much.

I'll take the last question from the platform.

[Other language spoken]

I was hoping for an update on the status of Ukrainian refugees in European countries.

Have you seen any sign of the refugee status maybe being revoked or maybe some of them being sent back?

Is there any risk of that?

Is that something you're concerned about and what can you do to help them?

[Other language spoken]

Thanks for the question.

So importantly, of course, announcements of the EU Temporary Protection Directive being extended until March of 26 is of course most welcome news.

This is, this is a country still at war and in terms of the ability for people to rebuild in some of those areas, impossible.

The the European Union generally, of course, has has looked at this collectively as something that needs to continue in the near term.

I know that there are of course, active discussions about are there areas potentially within the country that might be safe for return and, and that sort of thing.

At this stage, the, this is, it's, it's too early to go, I think into the, into that discussion.

But in terms of the, the support, you know, there were returns heavily in 2023.

I think the concern more now is that there will be more people leaving the country in the next few weeks and months, given winter and given the the the ongoing, ongoing war, as opposed to those that would be returning to Ukraine.

Thank you so very much, Kelly.

And Matt tells me that your notes are already on the platform.

So for the journalist, please look at them.

I'll stop for one minute to say goodbye to Kelly and then we will start with the regular briefing.

[Other language spoken]

UNHCR: Kelly Clements on Ukraine - 12 November 2024