On August 21, 2024, the Ministry of Reintegration and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) agreed to support frontline communities during the next winter period.
The agreement was signed by Vice Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk and UNHCR Representative Caroline Billing.
The Memorandum provides for one-time payments of UAH 21 thousand for vulnerable households to purchase solid household fuel.
Specifically, the assistance will be provided to vulnerable households in the following regions: Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovs’k, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, and Chernihiv. The primary focus will be on households located within 10 kilometers of the contact line or the border with russia.
The total budget for the program is USD 30 million.
“I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to UNHCR for the crucial and timely assistance in our frontline areas. By working together, we can maintain our humanitarian front and ensure a successful winter,” said Iryna Vereshchuk.
“The focus of UNHCR’s efforts is to provide support to individuals and communities who continue to reside in regions facing heightened risks during the winter season. This period is expected to present unique challenges, particularly in light of the recent targeted attacks on energy infrastructure. These individuals are in a highly vulnerable socioeconomic situation, making them the most in need of humanitarian assistance to survive and maintain their resilience. I am pleased that we can leverage our long-standing partnership with the Ministry of Reintegration to support the majority of these families through the upcoming winter when the impact of the devastating war will be felt even more strongly,” said Caroline Lindholm Billing, UNHCR Representative in Ukraine.
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The $30 million in funding provided by UNHCR is part of a larger assistance package. The total value of the package is $100 million, as announced by UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi during a meeting with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.