Press briefing by UN Women on the situation of women and girls in Ukraine
Remarks by Sabine Freizer Gunes, UN Women Representative in Ukraine, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
Thank you very much for having me here today. I am here to share an update about the situation of women and girls in Ukraine, drawing on my recent mission to the east – to Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia, two regions that are deeply impacted by the war.
More than three and a half years since the start of the Russian large-scale invasion, and 11 years since the start of the hostilities, the war continues to escalate, claiming more lives, causing massive destruction, displacing millions, devastating the economy and turning vast areas of land into deadly minefields.
This morning in Kyiv, after new strikes, we are left with severe electricity and water cuts. Massive strikes on energy continue to escalate, claiming more lives, causing massive destruction and putting people into the darkness and cold as they face a fourth winter of the full-scale war – while strikes on railroads have cut vital lifelines and blocked evacuations from the hardest-hit regions in the north and the east of Ukraine.
Nowhere is safe. The human toll is intensifying, with the relentless attacks killing and injuring civilians, including women and girls.
Throughout 2025, civilian harm has increased sharply, with total casualties increasing by 40 per cent compared to 2024. Since February 2022, at least 4,403 women have been killed, and 313 girls have lost their lives.
Behind the numbers there are stories of the women and girls in the country.
And I would like to share with you, a couple of stories from Zaporizhzhia, a city of close to 1 million people who are living less than 30km away from the front line. There, UN Women, together with a women’s rights organization Ukrprostir, set up consultations with three different groups of women two days ago, which included women veterans, women entrepreneurs and leaders of women’s rights organizations. Their stories were incredibly powerful and showed how women have specific needs in the humanitarian response and recovery, which need to be considered in our own planning and financing.
These women do not easily fit categories of victims or heroes. For example, Olha Bielous, a woman of about 60 years old is a war veteran, a wife of a deceased soldier, and a mother of a current soldier. She has huge needs, especially concerning mental health. But at the same time, she continues to organize. She is particularly organizing for the rights of women veterans in Zaporizhzhia and beyond.
Another woman who I met, Natalia Voronovs’ka, is an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) from Mariupol. She used to have a business doing interior decoration, which has been destroyed, and as an IDP in Zaporizhzhia, she has now set up her own company to create aromatic candles. She sees candles as being a beautiful symbol of warmth, peace and light amongst the attacks that are happening today in Zaporizhzhia.
These two women and the women that are living in places like Zaporizhzhia, are on one hand in desperate need of humanitarian assistance, but on the other hand, they are also starting to lead the recovery.
Tomorrow, on October 11th, we will also be celebrating International Day of the Girl Child. Yet in Ukraine, an entire generation of children is being deprived of education.
4.6 million children continue to face serious barriers to learning. While Ukraine is building underground schools, for example, in Zaporizhzhia, this is not enough to meet the need.
The crimes that are being perpetuated in Ukraine leave deep and lasting wounds not only on survivors, but also on their families and communities.
This week we also celebrated the Women, Peace and Security Resolution 1325 and commemorated the 25th Anniversary of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda.
At the UN Security Council General Antonio Guterres said: “We need protection: enforcing zero tolerance for violence against women, peace builders and human rights defenders, and accountability for those responsible for all acts of gender-based violence, including conflict related sexual violence”.
In Ukraine today, women are on one hand continuing to suffer from the attacks, but on the other hand, they are playing a leadership role in the humanitarian and the recovery response.
Yet they face tremendous barriers, and particularly barriers to financing. Less than 1 per cent of all recovery assistance coming to Ukraine is prioritizing gender equality and women’s empowerment. Yet what we see in cities like Zaporizhzhia, which has an acting mayor who is a woman, we see that women are organizing and that they greatly need additional support to be able to continue the work that they are doing.
Now is the time to stand up with women and girls in Ukraine with greater commitment than ever. Together, we can ensure they endure this war with resilience and emerge as empowered leaders that can shape Ukraine’s gender-responsive recovery, just and equal future.
Thank you.
