ReliefWeb

Hostilities in eastern Ukraine have increased in February, with 953 security incidents and 12 civilian casualties (2 deaths and 10 injuries). Critical civilian infrastructure on both sides of the ‘contact line’ continued to come under shelling, other conflict-related incidents led to temporary stoppage of water, gas and electricity supply to hundreds of thousands of people. Meanwhile, security incidents affecting water workers became more frequent. In February, a vehicle carrying some 15 water workers came under fire on its way to a pumping station. While no lives were lost, this was a reminder of the lethal risks the civilian utility workers face every day to carry out their tasks, while ensuring that water continues to flow to millions of people. Alarmingly, the first two months of 2019 also saw an increase of incidents affecting education facilities, with eight cases reported during January and February, affecting some 200 children. Only two incidents were reported during the same period in 2018. 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) was launched on 31 January 2019. It calls for US$ 162 million to respond to the needs of 2.3 million people on both side of the ‘contact line’.