HOME FRONT — More than 2 percent of Ukraine's population has fled the country since Russia launched its war a week ago. It's the fastest exodus this century, and it's likely to continue. For all the deserving attention on these 1 million refugees, there's a more dire humanitarian crisis unfolding inside Ukraine — a country of 44 million people. The long lines and crowded conditions in more open European countries, as people huddle in groups to brace the cold, have been easier to see than the people who were left behind. But within Ukraine's borders, humanitarian aid groups are drowning in requests for help and struggling to get aid to people who need it. As Russia targets crowded urban areas, civilians are under bombardment and stranded in the middle of conflict zones, hiding in shelters and taking refuge in metro stations, with basic supplies like food, water, hygiene materials and clothes dwindling. Women have run out of formula and diapers for their babies, Mirella Hodeib, a Ukraine-based spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, told Nightly. "It's a catastrophic humanitarian crisis we're witnessing right now," Hodeib said. Ukrainians have been lauded for staying behind to fight for their country, but there were others who couldn't leave, even if they wanted to. Some had to stay and care for elderly family members. Parents of sick children in ICUs couldn't abandon their child's medical care. Others didn't have the money to flee — the average household in Ukraine makes less than $7,000, as Yale historian Timothy Snyder notes. Some are on the move within the country, heading West to Lviv, living out of small suitcases. James Elder, a spokesperson for UNICEF, visited a children's hospital in Lviv today where doctors were preparing for a wartime hospital and training on how to care for pediatric casualties. At the hospital, a young mother, who traveled 10 hours to Lviv, told Elder she worried her two-month-old daughter would grow up without parents. "She said, 'Physically I am fine. Mentally I am amiss. I just want to know that she is safe, and I want her to have parents who she gets to know, who are alive,'" Elder said. The U.N. Human Rights office has registered more than 750 civilian casualties in Ukraine between the start of the invasion on Feb. 24 and midnight on Tuesday, though the office said it believes the figures are considerably higher. Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week condemned Russia for killing Ukrainian civilians, telling the United Nations Human Rights Council that the strikes are hitting schools, hospitals and residential buildings. "Civilians have certainly been killed. Children have been killed. Children have been injured, we've verified that," Elder said. "There are many areas where it's not safe for humanitarian workers to go." The International Committee of the Red Cross' crisis hotline has been inundated with thousands of calls this week, and messages have filled the organization's inbox, as the groups work to distribute surgical equipment, first aid and hygiene kits, food and clean water, Hodeib said. Then there are Ukrainians who need immediate medical attention. "We've got moms having babies in bunkers, for goodness sake," Elder said. As the fighting intensifies, so do the pleas for help. Because of the dangerous security situation, Hodeib said, "not a fraction" of needed aid is getting to Ukrainians. "We could take a truck and a few colleagues and go somewhere," Hodeib said. "But if this truck is targeted, meaning even if it's collateral damage, and we have casualties, will the aid arrive to the people who need it? No. We're in a much worse situation." The International Committee of the Red Cross has been on the ground in Ukraine since 2014, focusing on the eastern Donbas region where fighting with Russian separatists has left 14,000 dead. The group has 600 people in Ukraine and is working to double the number as conflict spreads across the country, Hodeib said, but they can only reach civilians if both Ukrainian and Russian soldiers agree to the pillars of international humanitarian law. Russia and Ukraine tentatively agreed today to safe corridors for civilians to evacuate and for humanitarian supplies to be delivered. But Hodeib said it's important for other rules of international humanitarian law to be respected, including not targeting critical infrastructure like medical facilities, water lines and power plants that could deprive people of basic needs. Hodeib's organization and other humanitarian groups are also calling for a neutral space where they can safely operate without the fear of being targeted. "We're just blocked. … We operate in conflict, situations of violence, where you have belligerence," Hodeib said. "We cannot really work if one of the parties has not given the OK for us to work and given the security guarantees." Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com. Or contact tonight's author at mward@politico.com, or on Twitter at @MyahWard.
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