The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has estimated the financial needs for assisting Ukrainian refugees in 2026 at $614 million, which is 23.6% less than the plan for 2025 ($803.6 million), according to a publication on the office’s website.
“In 2025, the intensification of hostilities, including increased air attacks and strikes on critical infrastructure, led to significant civilian casualties and new displacements – trends that will continue to shape needs both inside and outside Ukraine in 2026,” the UNHCR states, emphasizing the severity of the problem four years after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
At the same time, according to the publication, last year the level of funding for the Ukrainian refugee assistance plan fell to 43.7% or $351.1 million, compared to 64% or $635.7 million in 2024. This is significantly less than 84% or $924 million in 2023 and 91.7% or $1.1 billion in the first year of Russia’s full-scale aggression.
According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission report for December 2025, last year was the deadliest for civilians in Ukraine since 2022: 2,514 civilians were killed and 12,142 were injured as a result of war-related violence, which is 31% more than in 2024. By the end of 2025, there were 5.86 million refugees from Ukraine registered worldwide, of whom about 5.3 million were in Europe. Another 3.7 million people remained internally displaced in Ukraine, with 73% of them having been displaced for more than two years.
“According to the Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) for 2026, more than 10.8 million people in Ukraine will need humanitarian assistance and protection in 2026, with many people having been displaced multiple times and their vulnerability exacerbated by the ongoing war,” the document says.
It is estimated that by September 2025, more than 1.4 million refugees from Ukraine will have returned to their places of residence and remained in Ukraine for at least three months, including more than 0.3 million who did not return to their former homes.
“Changes on the front line continue to cause new displacements: from June to December 2025, more than 150,000 people were evacuated from frontline areas with the support of the government or humanitarian organizations, and even more people fled on their own,” the publication says.
It notes that an estimated 2.5 million displaced families in Ukraine still do not have access to adequate housing. At the same time, large-scale Russian strikes on energy infrastructure in the winter of 2025/26 left millions of people without reliable heating, water, and electricity in sub-zero temperatures.
“In refugee-hosting countries, some refugees continue to face barriers in accessing housing, decent work, health care, education, and social protection, while vulnerability continues to deepen over time as the full-scale war continues,” UNHCR adds.
According to the document, the plan for 2026 aims to help 2.1 million people in Ukraine and 482,000 Ukrainian refugees in other countries. Accordingly, the financial needs for assistance within Ukraine are estimated at $470 million, and outside Ukraine at $144 million, of which $64 million is in Moldova, $21.8 million in Romania, and $18.4 million in Poland.
The UNHCR specified that of these 2.1 million Ukrainians within the country, it wants to provide 955,000 with protection services, 652,000 with cash assistance, 325,000 with materials for housing repairs or settlement support, and another 178,000 with basic necessities.
According to the publication, in 2024, the UNHCR’s assistance plan in Ukraine was funded at 44% or $243 million, compared to 57% or $338.5 million in 2024. This led to a reduction in the number of services provided to 1.14 million as of November 2025, compared to 1.6 million for the same period in 2024.
As part of the 2025-2026 winter assistance, as of December 5, 176,000 people received cash support, which is 32% less than in 2024-2025, when 258,300 people received support.
It is noted that UNHCR works in Ukraine with 12 partners, 11 of which are local, and with 39 partners in 11 other countries, 33 of which are local.
