The World Well being Group on Monday warned that the upcoming winter could be “life-threatening” for tens of millions of Ukrainians after a sequence of devastating Russian assaults on the nation’s power grid.

“Put merely — this winter shall be about survival,” Hans Kluge, regional director for Europe on the United Nations’ well being physique, informed reporters throughout his go to to Kyiv.

“This winter shall be life-threatening for tens of millions of individuals in Ukraine,” he stated.

Injury to Ukraine’s power infrastructure brought on by quite a few missile strikes “is already having knock-out results on the well being system and on the folks’s well being,” Kluge stated.

He stated that the WHO has recorded greater than 700 assaults on Ukraine’s well being services since Russia’s invasion started in February.

He pointed to “a transparent breach” of worldwide humanitarian legislation.

“Continued assaults on well being and power infrastructure imply lots of of hospitals and well being care services are now not absolutely operational,” Kluge stated.

“We count on two-three million extra folks to go away their properties seeking heat and security,” he warned.

“They’ll face distinctive well being challenges, together with respiratory infections similar to Covid-19, pneumonia, influenza, and the intense threat of diphtheria and measles in under- vaccinated inhabitants.”