Summary of needs
Ukraine continues to face severe energy supply challenges due to sustained attacks on energy infrastructure. This has led to increased power outages, disrupting telecommunication services provided by local Internet Service Providers and Mobile Network Operators to UN and NGO office premises and personnel. In addition, satellite voice communication services are either unreliable or non-functioning in most areas of humanitarian operations. The results of an assessment conducted in 2024 reported limited coverage of the Security Communications System, especially among NGOs.
Response strategy
The Emergency Telecommunications (ETC) Cluster will extend and maintain security communications and secure data connectivity services in common humanitarian areas to coordinate inter-agency telecommunications support for humanitarian response. The Cluster will continue to work closely with its members — the ETC/Information and Communication Technology Working Group, Inter-Agency Cluster Coordination Group, the Security Management Team and Accountability to Affected People Working Group (AAP WG). Building on the progress and achievements in 2024, the Cluster will ensure secured communications services (SCS) to the UN and NGOs across operational areas, data connectivity to the humanitarian hubs and services for affected people.
In 2024, the ETC expanded the SCS to nine planned locations in the south and east of Ukraine, increasing security communications coverage for a total of 15 locations, including Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Luch, Dnipro and Kharkiv, as well as along the roads to the front line. This enabled 24/7 SCS support to the UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), managed by the Security and Information Operations Centre. In addition, the Cluster has enhanced
the network infrastructure’s protection against cybersecurity, developed a mobile connectivity module that can be rapidly deployed and maintained secure data connectivity services in the standard humanitarian hubs in Lviv,
Odesa, Mykolaiv and Kharkiv. For 2025, the Cluster will prioritize extending and deploying SCS in seven additional locations in the west, centre, east and south of Ukraine. This will cover other areas of humanitarian operations and fill the gaps in Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kryvyi Rih, Pershotravensk, Shostka, Uzhhorod and Vinnytsia. This will also allow SCS coverage in all the areas where humanitarian operations are conducted. For the data connectivity services, the plan is to continue providing security network protection and data connectivity to the ETC network infrastructure at humanitarian hubs and SCS locations.
The Cluster will continue to support inter-agency humanitarian convoy missions with multiple telecommunications system services to ensure the availability of security communications in the areas close to the front line.
To reinforce SCS during field missions to high-risk areas, the Cluster will provide a shared pool of mobile communication modules, prepositioned in the common field hubs in Dnipro, Kharkiv, Odesa and Kyiv, and dedicated to UN armoured vehicles and inter-agency humanitarian convoys.
In collaboration with the International NGO Safety Organization (INSO) and UNDSS, the Cluster plans to provide SCS to NGOs in areas close to the front line. The Cluster will provide local capacity-building, training sessions and technical advice. It will support humanitarian organizations in Ukraine through activities, including programming and configuring end-user equipment, and providing training for end-users on the proper use of security communications systems.
In 2025, the Cluster plans to gradually hand over the management of the established SCS to UNDSS, along with the associated costs under the inter-agencies’ Locally Cost-Shared Security Budget (LCSSB) for 2026. The Cluster will continue providing technical support to maintain the network. In 2024, the ETC Cluster, INSO and UNDSS agreed to integrate NGOs in the UN SCS, and in 2025, the ETC Cluster plans to provide dedicated SCS for NGOs in front-line areas.
The ETC Cluster will continue working with partners to ensure the provision of information management products, such as situational reports, dashboards and infographics. The Cluster will also continue organizing coordination meetings to inform the UN ICT communities about ETC activities and the implementation of telecommunication services. The Cluster will coordinate with the local Information and Communication Technology Working Group to implement backup connectivity solutions and GSM mobile coverage at UN premises.
Targeting and prioritization
The ETC Cluster will continue to prioritize, maintain and extend the SCS in the east and south of Ukraine, prioritizing 17 locations in total. At the same time, the Cluster will consider establishing the SCS in five more locations in western Ukraine, supporting humanitarian operations and as a part of the contingency plan for relocation. The Cluster will continue providing data connectivity services in the same humanitarian hubs, including in Lviv, Odesa, Mykolaiv and Kharkiv, and assess requirements based on the changing dynamics of the humanitarian operation.
Cost of response
The ETC Cluster is seeking $1.35 million for its response in 2025, building on the previous year’s achievements. This cost will cover coordination and information management; SCS in 22 locations (15 existing and 7 planned); secure data connectivity in 4 common UN hubs; services for communities; and technical support, SCS user training and maintenance in 4 ETC locations. The total Cluster budget for 2025 represents an 11 per cent decrease compared to the previous year.
Depending on the status of the country’s energy infrastructure, the expected cost of cluster activities can be adjusted to consider a durable means of power backup for most of the ETC sites.
