UNHCR and partners help people stay warm during the cold season in Ukraine
UNHCR and partners help people stay warm during the cold season in Ukraine
UNHCR and partners insulate homes in war-affected areas ahead of winter.
Winter, with its freezing temperatures, is currently sweeping across Ukraine – this is what UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and its NGO partners have prepared for since the early autumn, prioritizing various winter response activities and ensuring that people receive support and assistance ahead of the cold months.
Russia’s continued attacks on energy infrastructure in every corner of the country leave millions with limited access to electricity, while also causing disruptions to heating and water supply. This only exacerbates the hardship and risks this winter season, particularly for the most vulnerable groups.
So far, UNHCR together with its NGO partners have delivered over 159,600 winter support services. This includes provision and installation of heaters and insulation kits for families in their own houses but also displaced people residing in collective sites. Winter and insulation repairs have been carried out to help families in private houses or multistorey apartment buildings.
UNHCR has also distributed winter cash to vulnerable families living in frontline communities. This is done in close collaboration with Ukraine’s Ministry of Social Policy and the Pension Fund.
Meet three people, who have received support to stay warm this winter:
Valentyna in Dnipropetrovsk was supported with a heater and insulation kit
The small village of Velyka Dolyna in Dnipropetrovsk region in eastern Ukraine has been home to 72-year-old Valentyna for her entire life. She lives alone in a small house, almost a century old – and as the wooden frames and windows have aged badly over the years, Valentyna is feeling the cold draughts creep in everywhere. And this makes it particularly harsh and difficult to get through the icy winter nights.
“This house holds all my memories,” she says. “But it has become harder to keep it warm.”
Despite the challenges, Valentyna remains deeply attached to her home and her garden, which she tends to whenever her health allows.
UNHCR and its NGO partner Proliska have supported Valentyna with a heater as well as an insulation kit, that was installed to help improve the insulation of her old house and reduce heat loss, making her home more resilient against the cold.
“I am very grateful. With this support, I feel more secure for the winter ahead,” Valentyna says.
So far this winter season, UNHCR and its NGO partners have provided or installed heaters and insulation kits to over 12,700 people, including in their private homes or in collective sites for the most vulnerable internally displaced people.
Ievhenia in Sumy received winter cash and bought firewood
This winter Ievhenia meets with a sigh of relief.
Just before the arrival of cold temperatures, she was able to buy enough firewood to keep her home warm during the freezing months.
The older woman lives in the town of Hlukhiv in Sumy region, only 10 kilometres away from the border with the Russian Federation. Like thousands of residents in the frontline areas of Ukraine, Ievhenia received winter cash assistance from UNHCR, provided to help people, affected by the war, to cover expenses for solid fuel or pay for increased energy bills during the winter.
Due to proximity to the border, a mandatory evacuation was announced by authorities, however Ievhenia, like many others, has decided to stay at home. Now, at least, she can heat her house with wood and feel warm even during long hours of power outages.
“For pensioners like me who have a very little income, this assistance is indispensable. Without it, to be able to buy wood and stay warm, I would have needed to save money by cutting other spending, for example for purchasing medicines or food,” says Ievhenia.
“The war made my financial situation very precarious. I live on my own and can rely only on pension benefits which means I can only afford to buy the most essential items.”
Aiming to reach hundreds of thousands of people this winter season, UNHCR has so far provided winter cash to more than 145,000 people in frontline communities.
Tamara’s building in Mykolaiv was properly insulated
During the first weeks of the full-scale invasion in 2022, 71-year-old Tamara and her husband Oleksandr were in a crowded basement with their neighbors, trying to survive the constant shelling. Because of her limited mobility, Tamara needed help every time the explosions began, and she needed to climb down the stairs to the shelter.
As the situation deteriorated and tanks began to pass through the streets of the village daily, their daughter and son-in-law insisted on the family fleeing — even though Tamara was reluctant to leave her home. But in April, they packed up and evacuated to stay with relatives in Kremenchuk in Poltava region, where the situation was safer.
For some eight months of displacement, Tamara was constantly worried about whether they would ever be able to return, and if their home would still exist. When the older couple returned in January 2023, the sight was heartbreaking: the roof of their building was destroyed, all windows were shattered, and their apartment was cold and unprotected. Both being pensioners, the old couple could not afford or manage repairs on their own.
With support from UNHCR and its partner the Tenth of April (TTA), the roof and common spaces in Tamara’s building were repaired, protecting the building from further destruction and making it livable again. And ahead of this winter season, UNHCR and TTA are working on a thermal insulation of the building, which will make a significant difference for the families who have moved back, and the ones now planning to return.
“When they told us that the roof and our building would be repaired, I couldn’t stop crying — after everything that happened, it felt like someone had finally remembered us. They didn’t just fix the building, they brought hope back into our lives,” says Tamara.
And the insulation work will make a huge difference over the cold months.
“Once the insulation began, my neighbor from the already insulated house next to ours told me that it has now become so warm and cosy. Hearing that, I realised that we won’t face winter in fear anymore.”
Ahead of winter, UNHCR and its NGO partners have completed winter insulation and repair works in both war-damaged private homes and multistorey residential buildings as well as in collective sites hosting vulnerable internally displaced people. So far, over 1,500 people have been supported.
Distributing generators and power stations to address power outages
To address the comprehensive power outages, that continues to impact hundreds of thousands of people across Ukraine, putting vital services at risk and disrupting also water supplies, UNHCR is providing generators and portable power stations to those most in need.
The majority have already been delivered to critical infrastructure, communities and vital facilities in 19 regions, such as invincibility points, collective sites for vulnerable IDPs and evacuees and social service centres, enabling them to continue their functions during blackouts.
After a total blackout in Shostka city, Sumy region, that lasted a month, UNHCR delivered a generator and power stations to a central hospital enabling it to continue providing services to people.
“When we faced the most severe blackout so far with no electricity, heating and water supplies, UNHCR was among the first partners who provided support to us. We installed power stations straight away and this enabled many of our services, especially those using digital solutions, such as sensitive diagnostic appliances, to keep running,” Oleh Shtohryn, the hospital’s head doctor said.
