An International Monitoring Mission organised by the CivilMPlus member – Austausch e.V. together with “Vostok SOS” Charitable Foundation (Ukraine) and experts from Germany, France and the Czech Republic in December 2022 visited recently liberated areas of Kherson and Mykolaiv regions in Ukraine, as well as frontline communities of the Donetsk and Kharkiv Oblast.

Civil society representatives interviewed civilians in villages and cities that had been partially destroyed, and contaminated with land mines. They met those who survived the Russian occupation and collected information on the humanitarian needs of these parts of Ukraine.

Based on the visit, the experts of the Mission prepared a detailed report for decision makers and civil society stakeholders, that can be downloaded here. The findings of the mission, which was organised with the support of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have already been presented in Paris, Berlin, Leipzig and Prague.

Two of the messages that the Mission participants want to deliver is that Ukraine needs comprehensive support and solidarity from its international partners in order to effectively deal with and end the grave humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion. A better coordination of humanitarian efforts in frontline communities can help to improve the situation of civilians through this hard winter.