Operational update: Assisting communities in winter in the Russia-Ukraine International Armed Conflict
Millions of people rely on essential services such as water, electricity and heating during winter in the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Where communities need help the most, our teams are there, in Ukraine and in areas controlled by Russia, seeking to help people get through the cold season.
From our Delegation in Kyiv
Support to frontline communities
In its ongoing humanitarian response, the ICRC continues to assist the most vulnerable communities, including the elderly, people with disabilities or mobility issues, single-parent families and the unemployed in remote areas along front-line or border areas
To ensure a timely response, the ICRC started distributing winter assistance as early as August, well ahead of the cold season, and established contingency stocks to prepare for emergencies.
This year, 18,464 households* will receive cash grants of 364CHF each.
Moreover, ICRC shelter activities in Chernihiv Oblast will benefit 1,200 individuals, with more than 400 households supported through repairs and cash to make homes habitable before winter. In Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts, repair works on houses will improve living conditions for affected communities, benefiting 1,710 people and supporting more than 570 households. The ICRC will also restore 12 multi-story residential buildings in Kharkiv Oblast, including by repairing roofs and common areas, which will benefit over 800 individuals.
Urban resilience
Communities in urban centres remain vulnerable to, and affected by, disruptions in essential services. The ICRC aims to enhance the resilience of water, wastewater and electrical systems by strengthening utility providers' capacities to absorb, adapt, respond to and recover from conflict-related shocks and improve their emergency response capacity. Supporting these systems ensures that other essential services can continue to operate. As part of its urban resilience approach, the ICRC supports the maintenance of a combined heat and power plant in Mykolaiv and Kherson, another heating company in Chernihiv as well as heating utilities in Zelenodolsk, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, serving an estimated 435,000 people.
Health facilities and social institutions
To support essential service providers – such as health facilities – in the coming winter, 2,635 tonnes of briquettes that can be burned as solid fuel for heating will be distributed to 35 facilities, including 10 hospitals. Such support measures will also reach 12 social institutions.
Places of detention
Continued support to several places of detention focused on resilience, infrastructure and living conditions. In one internment camp for POWs, a transformer was donated to strengthen the electrical system. In another facility, conditions were improved through the renovation of additional cells, a medical dressing room and the exercise yard.
In one facility, windows were installed and replaced in the accommodation building, while at another additional windows were replaced to further improve living conditions. At a third facility, works included repairs of the food storage roof and renovations of the accommodation building, with improvements to the heating network planned.
In cooperation with relevant authorities in Ukraine, the ICRC donated generators to 11 places of detention and disinfection chambers to five.
The ICRC will also provide 96 tonnes of briquettes to places of detention.
* All statistics as of November 2025
From our offices in Donetsk and Luhansk
Support to frontline communities
In Donetsk, in communities close to the front line, many people are unable to meet their basic needs due to the ongoing impact of the armed conflict. About 5,000 residents across multiple front-line villages in Donetsk region received assistance, including food, hygiene parcels, blankets, solar lamps and mattresses. The most affected locations with limited access to food and essential items receive assistance on a regular basis.
More than 2,500 displaced people staying in 23 temporary accommodation centres in Donetsk region were supported with hygiene parcels and essential household items. Each centre received assistance tailored to its needs, such as furniture, electrical appliances, domestic equipment and monthly cleaning materials. Regular deliveries of potable water were provided, and some centres also received water heaters, sanitary equipment, submersible pumps and water tanks.
To address the particular vulnerabilities that the absence of a loved one due to the armed conflict creates, 276 families of the missing in Donetsk and Luhansk were supported with food and hygienic parcels. 143 children from families that have reported a loved one missing in Donetsk and Luhansk were provided with vouchers.
Many people in conflict-affected areas in Donetsk city and region continue to stay in their homes despite damage and destruction caused by the armed conflict. To help ensure they stay warm during winter, more than 1,500 people received 1,200 tonnes of construction materials – roofing sheets, timber, bricks and sand – to repair their damaged houses. The houses of more than 120 vulnerable families were repaired and PVC windows were installed to improve their living conditions in Donetsk region. A further 35 families with damaged houses in Donetsk region received vouchers to purchase essential items such as construction materials, furniture and appliances, to support the rehabilitation of their houses.
In Luhansk, more than 15,000 socially vulnerable and conflict-affected people living in 23 locations were supported with food parcels, bulk food supplies, hygiene products and essential household items to meet their basic needs.
Urban resilience
To address the immediate needs of communities caused by the armed conflict, almost 600,000 litres of drinking water were distributed to help centres accommodating displaced persons and residents in water-scarce areas of Donetsk. Additionally, more than 200 water tanks were provided to improve access to technical water being installed in the street. In Luhansk, 5,000 bottles of drinking water were distributed to people in conflict-affected areas in Luhansk facing water shortages.
To help support the repair of water supply systems and improve access to potable water in Donetsk and its surrounding areas, almost 14 kilometres of pipes, as well as 22 pumps, generators and welding machines, were supplied to Voda Donbasa.
Support to social institutions
18 social institutions in Luhansk were provided with furniture and appliances to strengthen their capacity to provide social services to the vulnerable population in communities affected by the conflict.
