Ukraine: Humanitarian Response and Funding Snapshot (January - March 2025) [EN/UK]

The war in Ukraine continues to drive humanitarian needs and demand for emergency assistance. In front-line regions, ongoing attacks pose daily risks to civilians. In Dnipropetrovska, Donetska, Kharkivska, Khersonska, Odeska, Sumska and Zaporizka oblasts, shelling damages homes and disrupts essential services such as water, gas and electricity. In parallel, funding shortfalls are placing additional strain on the humanitarian response. Despite these challenges, aid organizations are working to support those most affected people with limited or no access to clean water, health care, shelter or food. As needs and insecurity persist into the fourth year since the full-scale invasion, humanitarians are compelled to make difficult decisions to sustain life-saving assistance.

By March 2025, about 2.3 million people across Ukraine received some life-saving assistance from humanitarian partners. Around 1.8 million people received emergency clean water, wastewater treatment and related services. About 1.3 million people received food and agricultural support, while 600,000 benefited from improved healthcare access, including essential medical supplies. Emergency shelter, winter support, repairs, and household items reached 290,000 people. Protection services supported over 370,000 people, and 240,000 children and parents received mental health care and specialized child protection services. People at risk and survivors of gender-based violence continued to receive dedicated support. Education kits and related aid helped 150,000 people continue learning online and in classrooms. Approximately 120,000 people reduced their exposure to explosive hazards. Multipurpose cash assistance enabled more than 100,000 people to meet urgent needs, including food, non-food items, and hygiene supplies.

Humanitarian partners remain focused on providing critical assistance to those with the highest needs in front-line oblasts. In the first three months of 2025, they reached the most vulnerable populations in front-line and neighbouring oblasts, including Dnipropetrovska, Kharkivska, Mykolaivska, Zaporizka, Donetska and Khersonska, through regular programming. Nearly 23,000 people in high-risk areas across Donetska, Kharkivska, Khersonska and Zaporizka oblasts also received food, medical supplies, hygiene kits, and emergency shelter items through inter-agency convoys. These efforts are part of a broader response and complement regular programming. Local partners contribute across the humanitarian response—including supporting the delivery of critical supplies through convoys to communities affected by active hostilities.

The sudden and sharp contraction in global humanitarian funding had wide-reaching consequences across nearly every sector of the response in Ukraine. Humanitarian organizations had to scale back or suspend critical programmes due to funding constraints. The ripple effects extend to local NGOs and services for some of the most vulnerable populations. Essential sectors such as water, health, protection, and cash assistance faced significant operational gaps; unless alternative funding is secured, the humanitarian community’s ability to sustain services and respond to new shocks will become increasingly strained.