In brief
A former Belgian politician who now leads the UN Development Programme, Alexander De Croo, warned that Ukraine’s winter could be the most severe since the 2022 invasion. He said Russian attacks on power infrastructure risk turning the already fragile situation into a humanitarian catastrophe. Ukraine has been undertaking urgent repairs while fighting constant air alarms, and the UN is pushing for rapid restoration of critical systems. If energy and water services fail during temperatures that can drop to –20 °C, widespread suffering could ensue.
“This winter is going to be the toughest one since the war,” said Alexander De Croo, head of the UN Development Programme, when interviewed by the BBC in Kyiv.
De Croo warned that months of aerial attacks on Ukraine’s energy plants could produce a humanitarian disaster if power and water supplies are lost during the coldest months of the year.
Both Russia and Ukraine claim they are not deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure, yet the UN official pointed to “very systematic” strikes on power transmission lines, petrol stations and shopping malls that have hit the country hard in the past six months.
Ukraine’s technicians are repairing damaged substations under an ever‑present threat of air strikes, De Croo added, describing the task as “almost an impossible one” because workers must pause “because it is just too dangerous.”
The UN Development Programme has been helping to rebuild parts of the energy system that were destroyed last winter and is installing more resilient, decentralised plants that are less vulnerable to attack.
Temperatures in Ukraine can plummet to –20 °C during the coming months. If power supplies are severely damaged, heating, water and sewage infrastructure could collapse, leading to severe human suffering, De Croo cautioned.
The war, which has been raging since Russia’s full‑scale invasion in 2022, has intensified in recent months with both sides increasing aerial raids. Russian forces claim they are only targeting military objectives, while Ukraine maintains that the damage inflicted on civilian infrastructure continues to hurt ordinary people.
International aid organisations have urged the UN and donor nations to support Ukraine’s urgent energy‑rebuilding needs as the next winter threatens to overwhelm the country’s already stretched resources.
