In 2026, humanitarian partners aim to reach 4.1 million people with assistance across the four strategic priorities, maintaining a strong focus on vulnerable people living in front-line areas, with significant attention to internally displaced people and war-affected non-displaced people, including returnees.
The planned reach for 2026 reflects a more targeted, severity and vulnerability-focused response, rather than a reduction in needs or an improved situation. It is driven by stricter issue-based prioritization, multisectoral targeting and a reduced funding environment. Response prioritization was informed by a thorough intersectoral severity analysis, supported by multisectoral needs assessment, cluster and thematic assessments, the 2025 HNRP mid-year response and gap analysis, and changes in the funding landscape.
Of the total 4.1 million people that the humanitarian community plans to reach in 2026, 4 million will be prioritized for response under SO1, and 2.9 million people will be assisted under SO2. Geographic prioritization centres on front-line areas, where exposure to the harshest impact of war is greatest, and northern border regions, such as Sumska and Chernihivska oblasts, where needs deepened in 2025. Other strategic priorities maintain a nationwide scope, guided by a need-based approach. Significant funding cuts in 2025 have compelled the humanitarian community to include another layer of prioritization in response planning, aimed at saving as many lives as possible. Consequently, approximately 3.6 million people are further prioritized for support in the 2026 HNRP.
Strategic Priority 1 accounts for the largest share, approximately 2.7 million of the most vulnerable near the front line. Strategic Priority 2 prioritizes 0.5 million newly displaced and evacuated individuals, including those in transit centres and collective sites. Under Strategic Priority 3, about 0.9 million people (0.5 million prioritized) will receive emergency support following strikes, while Strategic Priority 4 will assist 1.1 million (0.7 million prioritized) through focused interventions for displaced and severely at-risk groups lacking social protection. Prioritization concentrates on front-line areas facing extreme and catastrophic conditions (severity phases 4 and 5), while those with acute needs (severity phase 3) in different regions of Ukraine have been taken into account for prioritized response.
Ukraine’s humanitarian response in 2026 is grounded in rigorous, target-driven planning, reviewed by the Inter-Cluster Coordination Group and the HCT, with support from the Data Coordination Group to minimize errors. The process systematically assessed whether pockets of critically unmet needs were identified. Best practices will guide monitoring of evolving needs, tracking of assistance delivery and deduplication efforts. Framing the response around strategic priorities promotes a people-centred approach, while severity-based criteria and overlap analysis across sectors reduce exclusion and inclusion errors. Continuous monitoring of activities, partner capacity and impact will further strengthen accuracy and accountability.
Response Analysis
“Currently, more than 250 displaced people live in our collective site, including single-parent families and elderly people. At the beginning of the war, we received more support, including refrigerators and funding for small repairs. Recently, however, assistance has significantly decreased, while the needs at the collective site remain very high. People living here are extremely vulnerable, and unfortunately, their ability to provide for themselves is very limited,” said Nataliia, an administrator of a collective site in Dnipro City and an internally displaced person.
Humanitarian operations in Ukraine faced severe access constraints in 2025, particularly near the front line, amid escalating hostilities and evolving warfare tactics. Due to changes in the front line, humanitarian actors lost access to more than 51,000 people in eastern areas previously supported. Between January and November 2025, over 230 access incidents were reported, and 8 humanitarian workers were killed, 4 of them while carrying out humanitarian activities. The military mobilization of humanitarian staff and/or personnel affected the delivery of services. Access to occupied areas remained extremely limited and the assistance provided was insufficient to meet the estimated scale of needs.
Operational presence
In 2026
The humanitarian community remains committed to ensuring robust protection and reaching people in need, wherever they are. Despite ongoing security threats and the shifting front line, humanitarian actors continue to operate by adapting their approaches through risk-informed planning and strengthening predictable access with relevant authorities. Remote monitoring and adaptable delivery mechanisms will be prioritized to reach civilians in occupied territories and areas of active conflict, while ensuring conflict sensitivity, the safety of staff and affected people, and adherence to principled, needs-based assistance.
In 2025, a sharp contraction in funding reduced the overall operational footprint from 468 operational organizations at the end of 2024 to 427 partners as of October 2025, and a similar level is expected to continue in 2026. National NGOs, including women-led and women’s rights organizations, have been disproportionately affected. Several organizations have closed or suspended programming, while others face imminent service reductions. The resulting operational disruptions are reversing gains in localization and weakening national response capacities. As of August 2025, 35 per cent of women’s rights organizations reported a lack of funding for gender-responsive programming.
Reduced funding left considerable numbers of people with insufficient shelter, health care, protection, food or safe water. Humanitarian partners struggled to sustain essential services for the most vulnerable, including survivors of conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence, older people and people with disabilities, most notably in areas hardest hit by the war.
Lessons learned from the 2025 response highlight the need for greater funding flexibility. This includes ensuring that funding is more accessible to national NGOs, including women-led and women’s rights organizations, and keeping the response agile as needs shift. Strengthening data-driven geographic prioritization, advocacy for higher presence and a stronger role of national NGOs, and enhanced collaboration with local partners will be essential. Sustained advocacy with development donors and continued engagement with early recovery, development actors and government authorities will ensure complementarity in areas outside the scope of the HNRP. Proactive contingency planning will also be essential to anticipate and address evolving protection risks and displacement dynamics.
References
- GiHA. Mapping of Women Rights Organizations in Ukraine. August 2025.