UNHCR provides large delivery of humanitarian relief items to the Ministry of Social Policy to support war-affected people in Ukraine
©UNHCR/Dmytro Babenko
Kyiv, Ukraine – UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency, today signed an agreement with the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, officially agreeing to hand over a significant consignment of humanitarian assistance to help meet urgent needs of families affected by the war.
The support will strengthen the national capacity to immediately respond to critical urgent needs of the most vulnerable among the internally displaced and other war-affected people across Ukraine. The relief items include some 350,000 blankets, 150,000 sleeping bags, 70,000 bedding sets, 130,000 mattresses, 100,000 hygiene kits, and other essential aid – some of which have been provided as in-kind support by private sector donors to UNHCR.
“This handover of relief items reflects our continued partnership with the Ministry of Social Policy in ensuring that the people left most vulnerable and in need as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion, are supported in a timely way to meet some of their most basic needs, in dignity, and are not left behind. As the war has entered its fourth year and continues to rage on, needs for basic humanitarian support remain acute. With this, we support the capacity of Ukrainian institutions to deliver life-saving assistance to people who need it the most,” said Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR’s Representative in Ukraine.
“We have taken another step toward deeper and more systematic cooperation with UNHCR. We are grateful to our partners for their support. It helps us not only respond to the challenges of war, but also build an environment where every person — including children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities — can live in safety and dignity. Our goal is to ensure that everyone in need of assistance and care can access support within their own community, and that the most vulnerable have a place to call home, even if they had to leave their own. This humanitarian support will now be directed to address the needs of people affected by the war,” noted Oksana Zholnovych, Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine.
© Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine
© Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine
© Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine
NHCR will deliver the aid items from its warehouses in Ukraine to three warehouses designated by the Ministry within the Cherkasy, Poltava and Lviv regional state administrations. The Ministry will then oversee the onward distribution of the humanitarian aid to where they are most needed, including through regional social protection departments and centers supporting internally displaced persons and other vulnerable populations.
This humanitarian support is part of a long-standing collaboration between UNHCR and the Ministry of Social Policy, grounded in a shared commitment to strengthen support systems for people who are mostly impacted by the war, including internally displaced people, as set out in the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Ministry and UNHCR in 2022.
©UNHCR/Dmytro Babenko
©UNHCR/Dmytro Babenko
Мost recently, UNHCR and the Ministry of Social Policy have cooperated on a comprehensive distribution of targeted winter cash assistance to help vulnerable households purchase solid fuel and other heating costs as well as with the rehabilitation of two sanatoriums in Poltava and Lviv regions to provide temporary accommodation for internally displaced people and other social services.
As one area of the organization’s humanitarian response in Ukraine, UNHCR in 2022 supported 1.7 million people with various basic aid items such as blankets, solar lamps and hygiene kits; more than 575,000 million people in 2023, and more than 240,000 people in 2024. UNHCR also distributes relief items to authorities to help equip vital facilities such as bomb shelters, invincibility points and transit centres, helping to create more comfortable conditions for displaced and war-affected people.
