The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released its latest situation report in February 2026, confirming that 14.6 million people inside Ukraine remain in need of urgent humanitarian support — including food, shelter, healthcare, water, and protection services.

The report highlights that Russia's continued strikes on energy infrastructure have left large portions of the population without reliable electricity or heat during winter months. In the Kherson, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Donetsk regions, access is severely limited due to ongoing active combat.

"The scale of need remains staggering," said the OCHA Ukraine representative. "People in conflict-affected areas are facing the fourth consecutive winter under near-constant threat of missile strikes and shelling. Humanitarian organizations on the ground are stretched to their limits."

International aid flows have slowed compared to 2022–2023 peaks, making private donations from individuals and organizations like GoSaveUkraine increasingly critical to filling the gap. Aid workers are calling on the global community to maintain — and increase — support.

In a rare moment of hope among the tragedy, three newly reconstructed schools in the Kharkiv region reopened their doors in January 2026, welcoming over 2,400 children back into proper classrooms for the first time in years. The reconstruction was funded through a joint initiative between UNICEF, the Ukrainian government, and international private donors.

Prior to reconstruction, students in these communities had been attending underground "bunker schools" — repurposed basement shelters fitted with desks and whiteboards — to continue education while Russian artillery strikes remained a daily reality. While functional, bunker schools lacked proper ventilation, natural light, and the psychological comfort of a normal environment.

"When I walked through the front door of a real school again, I cried," said 12-year-old Anastasia from outside Kupyansk. "I had forgotten what it felt like."

UNICEF estimates that over 3,700 Ukrainian educational facilities have been damaged or destroyed since February 2022, leaving hundreds of thousands of children without access to quality education. Reconstructed schools are equipped with air-raid shelters and blast-resistant windows.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced on January 19, 2026 the expansion of its field operations in eastern Ukraine, deploying additional mobile medical teams to communities near the Donetsk front line. The announcement came as Ukrainian authorities reported some of the most intense Russian artillery bombardments of civilian infrastructure since mid-2024.

ICRC teams are distributing emergency hygiene kits, warm clothing, and medical supplies to households in Pokrovsk, Kostiantynivka, and surrounding villages — areas that have seen mass civilian evacuations in recent months. The organization has also ramped up cash assistance programs, providing direct financial support to displaced families who have lost all income sources.

The ICRC's Ukraine operation is currently one of the largest in the organization's history. In 2025 alone, the ICRC delivered assistance to over 3.2 million people inside Ukraine, including emergency food parcels, water trucking, and healthcare services in areas cut off from normal supply chains.

"We are treating injuries that, in peacetime, would be considered extreme emergencies," said Dr. Olena Marchenko, an ICRC-supported surgeon in the region. "But here, they are routine."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confirmed in its January 2026 global displacement report that approximately 6.7 million Ukrainians remain registered as refugees across Europe and other regions — making it the largest refugee population on the continent since World War II.

While many refugees have found employment and temporary stability in host countries, UNHCR warns of growing integration challenges as initial emergency support programs expire. Countries including Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic are facing political pressure to reduce refugee benefits, even as conditions in Ukraine make return impossible for most displaced people.

Poland alone hosts over 1.5 million Ukrainians, placing significant strain on housing, education, and healthcare systems. Despite this, Polish civil society groups report high levels of public compassion and continued volunteer-driven support.

UNHCR data also shows that over 40% of refugees are children and adolescents, many of whom have now spent formative years outside Ukraine with disrupted education and trauma-related psychological needs.

A report by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis released in December 2025 found that cryptocurrency donations for Ukraine-related humanitarian and civil causes have surpassed $225 million since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022 — making Ukraine the largest recipient of crypto-based charitable aid in history.

The Ukrainian government's official crypto donation wallet, established in the days following the invasion, raised over $70 million in its first week alone. Numerous NGOs and humanitarian initiatives — including GoSaveUkraine — have adopted crypto donation channels due to the speed, low fees, and global accessibility of blockchain transactions.

Donors cite the transparency of blockchain as a key motivator. "I can see exactly where my funds went," said one donor from Singapore who contributed via Bitcoin. "With traditional wire transfers to foreign charities, there's always a worry about intermediaries. Crypto removes that."

The Chainalysis report notes that USDT (Tether) on the TRC-20 network is the most commonly used cryptocurrency for Ukrainian aid donations in 2025, followed by Bitcoin and Ethereum. The average donation stands at approximately $180 USD equivalent per transaction.

Save the Children released a landmark report in December 2025 documenting the psychological toll of three years of war on Ukrainian children. The study, based on interviews with over 5,000 families across Ukraine and refugee-hosting countries, found that 1.5 million children are experiencing severe trauma symptoms including recurring nightmares, panic attacks, social withdrawal, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Children in eastern Ukraine — particularly those who witnessed shelling, the death of family members, or forcible displacement — show the highest rates of psychological distress. Many have now spent more than a third of their lives under wartime conditions, with no clear end in sight.

"A generation of Ukrainian children is growing up in the shadow of war," said Sonia Khush, Save the Children's Ukraine Country Director. "Without urgent investment in mental health support and psychosocial services, we risk permanent developmental harm on a massive scale."

The report calls for a five-fold increase in funding for child mental health programs in Ukraine and among refugee communities abroad. Currently, less than 3% of humanitarian funding for Ukraine is directed toward psychosocial support. GoSaveUkraine directs a portion of donated funds toward organizations providing psychological support and child protection services.

A network of international volunteer medical organizations reached 14 previously inaccessible villages in the Zaporizhzhia region during November 2025, delivering urgently needed medical supplies and performing over 800 medical consultations in just two weeks. The convoys operated in coordination with the Ukrainian military and local civilian authorities under strict safety protocols.

Villages in the zone had been without regular medical access for up to eight months due to shelling of access roads. Elderly residents and those with chronic conditions were in particular distress — many had run out of prescription medications or were managing undiagnosed injuries from earlier bombardments.

Dr. Marta Koval, a volunteer surgeon from Lviv who participated in one of the convoys, said: "We found families living in damaged homes, surviving on food reserves and well water. Some hadn't seen a doctor in almost a year. The gratitude was overwhelming — and so was the heartbreak."

Volunteers also distributed 1,200 winterization kits — containing blankets, thermal clothing, waterproof tarps, and portable heaters — ahead of the winter season. Organizers say they need continued fundraising to sustain monthly convoy operations through 2026.