In 2025, the humanitarian community will require US$2.63 billion to provide lifesaving multisectoral assistance to address the most critical needs of 6 million of the 12.7 million people in need. Recognizing the potential for sudden shifts in the context due to the ongoing war and seasonal needs, especially during winter, the humanitarian response will adopt a flexible and agile approach to “emergencies within the emergency”. A people-centred approach will guide assistance delivery to meet the needs of people wherever they are, based on their vulnerability resulting from the direct shock of war. The response will adhere to the ‘do-no-harm’ principle to mitigate unintended risks. Humanitarian assistance will further explore complementarities with the social protection system of Ukraine wherever possible to align with the principle of ‘reinforce, do not replace, national and local systems’, as set out in the Agenda for Humanity. National humanitarian organizations will remain central to humanitarian response in Ukraine, while international organizations and the United Nations will complement these efforts. The response will also seek complementarities with recovery initiatives wherever possible.
Two strategic objectives will guide humanitarian response in 2025, ensuring timely and life-saving interventions:
Strategic Objective (SO1): Provide principled and timely multisectoral life-saving emergency assistance to the most vulnerable internally displaced people and non-displaced war-affected people, ensuring their safety and dignity, with a focus on areas with high severity levels of need.
Strategic Objective (SO2): Enable access to prioritized essential services for the most vulnerable internally displaced and non-displaced war-affected people, with a focus on areas with high severity levels of need to ensure their protection, safety and dignity.
Activities under SO1 aim at direct delivery of emergency humanitarian assistance to address needs as a result of the direct impact of the ongoing war and allow for more flexible programming to respond to new emergencies. Three years into the war in Ukraine, activities under SO2 aim to enable access to services through existing national mechanisms to the extent possible while complementing Ukraine’s social protection system.
The response will be delivered through various modalities, including mobile and static teams, direct service provision, in-kind support, multipurpose and sectoral cash assistance, community-based assistance and capacity-strengthening for local authorities and responders. Protection will be central to the response, with a strong emphasis on addressing gender-based violence, child protection and removing barriers to services and entitlements, including through legal aid to recover civil and property documents. The response will also support inclusive and specialized services for people in need, including older people and persons with disabilities. Special attention will be paid to integrating mental health and psychosocial support, recognizing the widespread and deepening trauma inflicted by the ongoing war.
In alignment with the Grand Bargain commitments cash assistance, including sectoral cash, remains the preferred modality in Ukraine, with priority to multipurpose cash (MPC) to give people dignity in their choices. In-kind assistance will be provided based on sectoral needs assessments and in-country purchases in areas where people do not have access to markets, with the aim of fostering access to goods for vulnerable groups. While multipurpose cash assistance (MPCA) aims to cover basic needs, sectoral cash will be applied to meet specific needs while avoiding disruption to existing systems put in place by the Government.
In the areas occupied by the Russian Federation in Donetska, Luhanska, Khersonka and Zaporizka oblasts, access negotiations and advocacy efforts will guide response efforts for the estimated one million vulnerable people. This strategy will draw on the approach from the last HNRP, allowing for flexibility to reprogramme and scale up if access improves or more areas become inaccessible. Owing to the fluidity of the context, preparedness and readiness for future shocks have been included in the HNRP to ensure emergency response capacity, notably to respond to population movements such as evacuations due to spikes in hostilities.