In the framework of permanent cooperation with UN bodies and institutions, our Association sent a submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Professor Elena Díaz Galán, for the preparation of her report on the challenges of poverty in cities.
The ARC submission, prepared by Anna Prikhodko, Olesya Tsybulko, and other experts and published at the official UN web-sources now, reminded that the municipal management policy of Russian de-facto “authorities” till 2026 was realized without any planning or qualified regulation, including the relevant communal services’ collapse in Kerch, Simferopol, Sevastopol, Yevpatoria, and other cities.
The submission added that the quantity of Crimean urban population increased due to Russian colonizers, but the municipal infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems, road networks, schools, kindergartens, and hospitals, does not satisfy the needs of local residents.
The ARC’s submission pointed out that in conditions of ongoing Russian broad-scale aggression, the war crimes committed by invaders during ongoing hostilities are connected with absolutely clear Russia’s war targets in maximal destruction of the civil urban infrastructure, including objects essential for all vulnerable Ukrainian groups.
Those processes lasted all for years of hostilities, including Russian missile and drone shots against Kyiv power stations in 2026, which resulted in the absence of electricity and warmth in extremely cold weather for 2 million persons, including the youth, women, and older ones.
So, the submission added, millions of Ukrainians, including the vulnerable urban groups, lost their houses and saved access to medical and social services due to Russian aggression, and a lot of persons died in such conditions.
Russian attacks against Ukrainian non-combatants and against Ukrainian civil urban infrastructure have features of state terrorism, the ARC submission summarized.
