As the possibility of war looms over Ukraine with Russian forces gathered on its border, the nation is already suffering a dire humanitarian crisis.

And a new United Nations report says any attack by Russia will severely worsen the situation.

The latest humanitarian overview for Ukraine by the UN’s emergency aid coordination agency OCHA says that there are 2.9 million people in need, 54 per cent of them women or girls. Thirteen per cent of those in need and 13 per cent have disabilities.

Two million people are reported to be in ‘extreme’ need of a population of 41.4 million.

This includes almost 300,000 people still displaced by an eight-year war that has claimed more than 13,000 lives.

Particularly affected are the elderly in the separatist-occupied, Russian-backed east.

Since March 2020, when COVID-19 effectively rendered the so-called ‘contact line’ impassable, they’ve been unable to cross to access their pensions and social services.

“Ukraine remains one of the world’s most landmine- and unexploded ordnance-contaminated countries, putting people’s lives at risk and impeding recovery, and limiting access to livelihoods and basic services,” the report says.

“With no political solution to the conflict in sight, humanitarian needs are anticipated to continue with increased severity in 2022, particularly in the non-Government-controlled areas,” it said.

The report says humanitarian needs arising from the armed conflict remain critical on both sides of the ‘contact line’, the 427-km frontline which divides Donetska and Luhanska from the rest of Ukraine since the conflict there in 2014.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to restrictions on movement and decreasing livelihood opportunities, and has pushed fragile and weakened health systems to a breaking point, it says.

People are struggling to access basic services, social benefits and entitlements with older people and women the worst affected. 

Thirty percent of people in need of humanitarian assistance are older than 60 years of age – the largest percentage of older people affected by conflict in a single country.

The existence of the ‘contact line’ has also severed water infrastructure, the report says.

“With conflict, COVID-19 and its related movement restrictions driving humanitarian needs, some 2.9 million people are projected to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2022, the majority of whom, some 54 per cent, are women and girls,” it says.

“The majority (59 per cent) of the people in need live in conflict areas, where needs remain severe and continue to deteriorate.

“With Ukraine’s harsh winter season and already three waves of COVID-19 (with additional waves likely following the emergence of the Omicron variant), the operational environment has become increasingly complex.

“Access remains seriously constrained, undermining the provision of principled humanitarian assistance, while the humanitarian crisis continues to be at risk of further politicisation,” the report says.

Of the 2.9 million people projected to be in need, 1.1 million people live in the Donetska and

Luhanska areas, including over 133,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), and 160,000 IDPs in other areas across Ukraine.