Ukraine: Winter Response Snapshot (October 2025 – March 2026)

Country: Ukraine Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Please refer to the attached Infographic. This snapshot presents an end-of-season overview of the response during the winter period, highlighting key results, operational challenges and priorities for the next winter cycle. In July 2025, as part of the Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) , the humanitarian community launched the 2025–2026 Winter Response Plan ( WRP ) to support people across Ukraine during the cold season amid the ongoing war. Now for the fourth consecutive year, the WRP has served as a seasonal prioritization within the broader humanitarian response, bringing together humanitarian partners to deliver coordinated, life-saving assistance focusing on winter-related needs. The WRP aimed to reach 1.7 million most vulnerable people, particularly those near the front line and communities hosting displaced people, while complementing national and local response efforts. The 2025–2026 winter was marked by unusually severe temperatures, intensified attacks on critical energy infrastructure and evolving targeting of electricity and gas infrastructure, which drove humanitarian needs beyond initial projections. Strikes disrupted electricity, heating and water supply across the country, particularly in eastern and southern regions, as well as major cities—Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa and Dnipro, affecting the daily lives of several million urban residents and severely disrupting essential household and public services. In several instances, these disruptions had cascading humanitarian consequences. Health facilities struggled to operate without stable power; water and sanitation services were interrupted, and essential services were reduced. Vulnerable groups, including older people, per...

Original source: Relief Web