Ukraine Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan 2025 (January 2025) [EN/UK]
Foreword by the Humanitarian Coordinator
The ongoing war in Ukraine, with its daily uncertainty and violence, has profoundly affected millions of people. The horrific killing and maiming of civilians continue, and the lives of Ukrainians have been disrupted by the destruction of schools, hospitals, homes and energy systems. Access to essential services such as health care, clean water and heating is increasingly difficult not just in the oblasts along the front line but across the country. Massive displacement continues as people flee from their homes amid escalating and intense fighting along the front line. Countless people and families are suffering from the deep invisible wounds of trauma and psychological distress. It is for the sake of the most vulnerable among them that we must sustain humanitarian assistance in 2025. We must also not forget the desperate plight of the many living in occupied territories.
In 2024, collaborative efforts of national NGOs, local volunteers, and international NGOs and UN agencies resulted in reaching more the 8 million people affected by the war with humanitarian assistance across Ukraine and particularly along frontline areas. National NGOs and local volunteers leveraged their deep understanding of communities to deliver aid on the “last mile” effectively, while international NGOs brought additional resources and expertise, enabling larger-scale action alongside UN agencies to ensure a cohesive approach and facilitating humanitarian access where possible. This achievement was made possible thanks to donors’ generous support, and we extend our heartfelt gratitude for your valuable contributions.
As I write this foreword in December 2024, winter has started and with many others, I am very concerned about the humanitarian impact of the relentless attacks by the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the energy sector. Millions of people, especially those in high-rise buildings in cities and older people, as well as people with disabilities, are at risk of facing severe hardship due to disrupted heating, water and sewage services.
During my frequent visits to hardest-hit front-line regions, I have also witnessed the perilous conditions of delivering humanitarian aid and the extreme risks aid workers face. Numerous attacks, including increasing the use of drones on aid workers and humanitarian facilities, resulted in harm and fatalities in 2024. We will strive to deliver and pursue our work through improved access and placing duty-of-care for frontline workers as a key priority of our action, no matter where people in need are and in line with humanitarian principles.
In 2025, we will continue providing principled and timely multisectoral emergency assistance to the most vulnerable internally displaced and non-displaced war-affected people, prioritizing the safety and dignity of people in areas with the highest severity of needs. More recently, the humanitarian situation has worsened in areas along the front line and the northern border, even as access to services has improved in major urban centres in Kyiv and Lviv. This shift underscores the need to prioritize the extreme and catastrophic needs of those living in and near front-line regions in 2025 and key pockets of needs across the country. We must ensure their protection to the best of our collective abilities. We will also continue to advocate for access to the most vulnerable facing severe hardships in occupied territories.
As we approach the three-year mark of this terrible war, we are determined to respond swiftly to evolving needs and “emergencies within the emergency”, which requires us to be flexible and agile as well to adjust and improve our ways of working. This includes promoting cash-based delivery as and when possible. Where in-kind assistance is the only or preferred option, we will prioritize local purchase (made in Ukraine). In view of the considerable capacity and institutional strength of the Ukrainian Government and civil service, we must increasingly shift our humanitarian response towards supporting and complementing the efforts of national and local authorities. This is captured in the second strategic objective for this Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan.
We are committed to a realistic and cost-effective implementation of the 2025 HNRP. We must apply valuable lessons learned from our response efforts since the war escalated in 2022, including driving further the localization of the response. Over 600 organizations, primarily national partners, are committed to integrating protection into every aspect of the response.
Accountability to Affected People must underpin every humanitarian action we take. The voices and needs of those impacted must become yet more central to our decision-making. Noting the many demands on humanitarian financing, we may need to make hard choices in the coming year and accountability will remain the key driver underpinning our collective decision-making.
As I have travelled around the country, I have been impressed by the strength of the Ukrainian people and their determination to embark on early recovery efforts as soon as opportunities arise. I have seen wonderful examples of such efforts, including equipping vital water wells with solar-driven pumps, fortifying underground classrooms to enable in-person education in complement to online learning and demining as a precursor for economic recovery.
In parallel to addressing immediate relief and life-saving urgent needs (as captured under strategic objective 1 of this HNRP), we must, in parallel, support recovery efforts that help communities rebuild and regain stability.
The war in Ukraine must not be normalized. We want children to be in school without fear of air-raid sirens or the confines of bomb shelters; a time when winter no longer brings dread and essential services are fully restored. We long for a moment when families can stay together, free from the fear of losing loved ones to hostilities. Until that hopeful day of peace with justice and full accountability arrives, we will continue to rally support for the people of Ukraine with all humanitarian partners, government, donors and humanitarian delivery actors. I look forward to your support and working with you in 2025.
Matthias Schmale
Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine