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Current Requirements (US$)$3.11 billion
Crisis overview and projections
In Ukraine, the war continued to cause widespread destruction throughout 2023, destroying lives and livelihoods, further decimating essential services, and compounding an already grave humanitarian crisis.
Over 14.6 million people – about 40 per cent of the Ukrainian population – will need humanitarian assistance in 2024. The impact of the war remains far-reaching. It is exposing civilians in most parts of the country to significant protection risks. Needs are more acute in the east and the south, where communities have been ravaged by intense hostilities. The humanitarian needs of Ukraine’s front-line communities are reaching levels of extreme and catastrophic severity.
Over 3.3 million people in need of aid live in front-line communities in the east and south. In this part of Ukraine, including the territories under the temporary control of the Russian Federation, millions struggle to have adequate access to water, food, health, housing, protection and other essential services and supplies.
Major incidents, including the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in June 2023, and strikes hitting other vital infrastructure, exacerbated humanitarian needs in regions where the situation was already acute. Throughout the year, homes, schools, water systems and hospitals continued to be damaged. Local farmers are struggling to cultivate their lands due the heavy contamination of explosive remnants of war, this is particularly concerning in the fertile areas of Kharkivska, Khersonska and Mykolaivska oblasts.
Needs are also high amongst the nearly 4 million people who are internally displaced across Ukraine, particularly about 111,500 people currently living in collective centres. Prolonged displacement has led to many depleting their resources and capacity to cope with loss of a job or income. At the same time, violence has pushed thousands to flee again, mainly in areas close to Sumska and Kharkivska oblasts.
Grave violations against civilians have exposed millions to increased trauma and mental health issues, and impacted children’s wellbeing and education. The war has also compounded pre-existing inequalities and challenges faced by women and marginalized groups, and increased risks of gender-based violence.
The current humanitarian situation is likely to further deteriorate in 2024 if hostilities persist and attacks targeting energy and other critical infrastructure increase during the ongoing winter.
Response priorities in 2024
The humanitarian community has worked intensively to carry out life-saving activities in Ukraine in 2023, building upon the major scale up on the response that followed the escalation of the war in 2022. Nearly 11 million people received life-saving and life-sustaining assistance from over 500 humanitarian organizations. Aid organizations made efforts to reach the most vulnerable who are exposed to hostilities on a daily basis, increasing assistance in the front-line communities, including through inter-agency convoys.
In 2024, the response will continue to focus on people with the most severe humanitarian needs across the country, prioritizing those in the front-line communities and neighbouring areas. The most vulnerable displaced people and returnees will also be prioritized.
In total, about 8.5 million people will be targeted for assistance. The strategy aims to provide principled and timely multisectoral life-saving assistance to ensure the safety and dignity of people enduring the consequences of the war. A combination of static and mobile response modalities will ensure assistance is delivered where the most vulnerable people are. The response also seeks to strengthen the centrality of protection and reduce protection risks. To that end, specific protection activities and services will complement health, shelter, food, water, hygiene and sanitation and education interventions. In addition, gender and age-appropriate mental health and psychosocial support will be integrated into sectoral responses, as well as accountability to affected people and protection from sexual exploitation and abuse.
Assistance to people living in areas currently under the temporary military control of the Russian Federation will depend on improved access for humanitarian organizations, which has been extremely limited since the escalation of the war, hampering operations at the required scale. The humanitarian community, however, will continue efforts and advocate for access to ensure all people impacted by the war can receive assistance, no matter where they live.
Ukraine response plan
Life under bombardment: Providing assistance close to people in Ukraine’s front-line communities
Since the escalation of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, humanitarian access to areas close to the front line has been increasingly challenging and unpredictable. Ground fighting, the constant threat of bombardment, heavy contamination by mines and other explosive remnants of war, made it extremely difficult – and dangerous – to implement regular humanitarian programming. Hostilities have caused damage to roads and disrupted markets, adding to the challenges of providing assistance to people in front-line communities of Ukraine, where needs are severe and vulnerabilities high.
To overcome this, aid organizations have adapted and utilized a variety of operational modalities to ensure people lacking access to the most essential items and services can receive the support they need. An important modality for direct delivery of assistance is through regular inter-agency convoys, which every week go as close as possible to the front line with comprehensive packages of aid, including water, medicine, food, hygiene products and materials to repairs damaged houses. Nearly 100 inter-agency convoys delivered assistance to front-line communities between January and October 2023, providing relief items to almost 400,000 people. The support complements the extraordinary efforts carried out by local volunteer groups and NGOs, and also ensure they have supplies to carry out their life-saving duties.
Photo: OCHA leads an inter-agency convoy to war-affected communities in Kherson region, Ukraine.
Pokrovsk, Donetsk Region, Ukraine
Rapid humanitarian support is provided to the residents of an apartment building impacted by a strike.
OCHA/Sarah Hilding der Weduwen
Ukraine
Oleksandr takes his two-year-old daughter, Michelle, out for a walk. Since the war began, he and his wife are doing all they can to protect Michelle from daily shelling and a lack of health care, electricity, education and basic essentials.
UNICEF/Aleksey Filippov
Sviatohorivka, Donetsk Oblast in Ukraine
Staff of the UNHCR’s partner Humanitarian Mission Proliska distribute construction materials provided by the UNHCR to the local people. Their homes have been badly damaged following an attack.
UNHCR/Proliska