Winter mass attacks by the Russian Federation on Ukraine’s energy facilities have not led to an increase in the number of citizens leaving the country. This was reported by Bernadette Castel-Hollingsworth, a representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Ukraine.
This is reported by Finway
Monitoring Migration Processes and Changing Reasons for Departure
According to Castel-Hollingsworth, UNHCR specialists and their partners are present daily at 30 border crossing points, where they closely monitor both the departure of Ukrainians abroad and their return since 2022. She emphasized that there has been no significant increase in the number of people leaving Ukraine. In some cases, during severe frosts, citizens temporarily moved to relatives within the country, but later returned home.
“We are monitoring the situation, including at the borders. Our colleagues and partner teams are at 30 border crossing points every day. We monitor both the departure from Ukraine – which we have been doing since 2022 – and the return. We have not seen an increase in the number of people leaving the country. There may have been some internal movements within Ukraine, but from what we see, these were temporary displacements. That is, during very cold weeks, people might have gone to relatives, but then returned,” she noted.
Changing Reasons for Departure and Demographic Characteristics
Since November, the structure of reasons for leaving the country has changed: while previously the main motives were directly related to combat actions, now issues with energy supply and water provision are increasingly cited among the reasons. Particularly new is the concern regarding access to water, which was not observed in 2024.
Regarding the demographic composition of those leaving or being internally displaced, Bernadette Castel-Hollingsworth emphasized the absence of a dominant group. According to her, there was some activation among young men in September–October of last year following changes in legislation, but this trend did not continue. Families, single parents with children, as well as vulnerable population categories and the elderly are the most likely to leave.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russia has systematically shelled Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Since autumn 2025, these attacks have intensified, causing significant disruptions to electricity supply in the country.
According to UN estimates, as of January 2026, Ukraine has lost more than half of its energy capacity and has only 11 GW of generation, which is significantly less than the peak demand of 18 GW in winter. This deficit has led to regular power outages for the population.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has classified Russia’s strikes on energy infrastructure as acts of genocide, as they deprive millions of Ukrainians of essential heat and electricity during frosts.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov continued to spread disinformation in February, claiming that Russia allegedly does not strike civilian objects, blaming Ukraine for such actions.
On February 25, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko reported the transfer of evidence regarding Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which took place from July 2025 to February 2026, to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.