Humanitarian aid for Ukraine

Diplomatically, France has been working since 2022 to rally support for the Ukrainian people and provide a humanitarian response in line with needs. On 13 December 2022, an international conference in support of the Ukrainian people was held in Paris, at the joint initiative of France and Ukraine. Co-chaired by Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and attended by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, it brought together 70 representatives of international organizations and governments. The participants committed to provide over €1 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine in the form of grants, subsidies and technical assistance. The conference established the “Paris Mechanism” to facilitate coordination between donors and tailor their response to Ukraine’s key needs.

For more information about the conference, download the press kit and read the co-chairs’ statement.

France’s humanitarian mechanism is constantly adapted to developments on the ground

Government agencies, local governments, the private sector and civil society have also responded significantly to the crisis in Ukraine. Since the start of the war, some 2,200 local government bodies and about 100 companies have contributed to the humanitarian response of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, providing almost €12 million.

How to contribute

1. If you are a company
2. If you are a local government body

Departments involved and amounts allocated by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs

France’s humanitarian action is managed by several departments within the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. In the case of the Ukrainian crisis, given the need for a rapid response, the Crisis and Support Centre (CDCS) played a key role from the very first weeks of the conflict. The United Nations, International Organizations, Human Rights and Francophonie Directorate has used its voluntary contributions to fund the work of UN agencies and humanitarian programmes.

Via the Crisis and Support Centre, France has also delivered thousands of tons of humanitarian equipment to Ukraine and neighbouring countries including Romania and Moldova, in some 60 logistical operations, with a total value of almost €63 million. These operations were supported by the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

Since the start of the conflict, the Crisis and Support Centre has also provided over €120 million to support the work of international NGOs, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and public agencies, in the following oblasts: Chernihiv, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Luhansk, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Zaporizhzhia and Zhytomyr. Some of the assistance was provided very close to the front. Further assistance has supported host regions and communities which have taken in many displaced Ukrainians.

For more on the Crisis and Support Centre’s humanitarian action in Ukraine, see this infographic (PDF – 1.2 MB).

Since February 2022, French humanitarian assistance to Ukraine has also included voluntary contributions of €251 million to UN agencies, international organizations and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

What has the €434 million in assistance been spent on since 2022?

Overview of humanitarian needs

In 2024, the United Nations and all humanitarian stakeholders in Ukraine estimated that some 14.6 million people, or 40% of the population, require humanitarian assistance. Of them, 2.9 million are children, 3.4 million are elderly and 2.1 million have disabilities. The areas most in need are located near the front, including in territories occupied by Russia. Due to bombardments and destruction, some 4 million Ukrainians have had to flee their homes and seek shelter elsewhere in the country.

Between 2022 and 2023, the situation deteriorated seriously due to increased fighting, many more strikes against civilian infrastructure (including homes, educational, leisure and medical facilities, and energy infrastructure) and the ensuing suspension of many basic services such as education, healthcare, telecommunications, water and electricity. For example, at least 721 educational facilities were destroyed or seriously damaged in February 2023, and the World Health Organization identified 1,129 attacks on medical facilities in August the same year.

In addition to trauma and mental health problems suffered by millions of Ukrainians, war and displacement have led to increased poverty, 65% of households having lost income and 44% no longer being able to cover their basic food and non-food needs. The destruction of critical infrastructure has also compromised households’ access to electricity, water and heat, seriously worsening their living conditions in winter.

To find out more about the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, see the UN’s Ukraine Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan 2024.

Action in healthcare

On 1 September 2024, the Crisis and Support Centre enabled medical evacuations of over 150 patients from Ukraine to France. Most were war wounded and children with serious illnesses such as cancers which required operations or treatment which were impossible to organize in Ukraine due to war and many attacks on healthcare facilities.

In parallel, the Crisis and Support Centre has been funding many projects to support healthcare systems since 2022 to guarantee Ukrainians continuous, accessible and high-quality healthcare, particularly in paediatrics, sexual and reproductive health, orthopaedics, war surgery and mental health.

By supporting Expertise France and international NGOs such as Actions Santé Femmes, ALIMA, la Chaîne de l’Espoir, Humanité et Inclusion, Doctors of the World, Mehad, Norwegian People’s Aid, Première Urgence International and SAFE, the Crisis and Support Centre helps hospitals, primary health centres and mobile clinics to treat wounded and sick people, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women, in Ukraine and neighbouring countries that have taken in many Ukrainian refugees.

Projects financed by the Crisis and Support Centre have so far included:

• Deploying practitioners to train local healthcare workers on specific issues (e.g. war surgery) and assist them in treating patients;
• Delivering medication and medical supplies;
• Rehabilitating, building and fitting out healthcare facilities (including the building of a centre for war wounded in Odesa, in partnership with Expertise France);
• Designing and manufacturing custom-made prostheses and orthoses for the wounded.

In 2023, France supported a UNICEF project to prevent malnutrition in pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under the age of two in the worst-affected conflict areas.

Action to protect food security and livelihoods

From the very start of the war, France has worked to provide emergency food and nutrition assistance to Ukrainian displaced persons and refugees and those whose livelihoods have been endangered or destroyed. In the Ukrainian-controlled oblasts, its €67 million in support to the work of the World Food Programme has contributed to strengthening the food security and agricultural resilience of the most vulnerable Ukrainian families. It has also enabled school canteens to continue operating, supporting thousands of children covered by the national school meals programme.

Moreover, the support of the Crisis and Support Centre to the programmes of Action Against Hunger, ACTED and the International Rescue Committee in the first two years of the war aimed more generally to enable Ukrainian displaced persons and refugees to access essential goods for cooking (utensils, etc.), hygiene (soap, etc.) and getting through winter (blankets, etc.). France’s has contributed similarly to the work of the International Organization for Migration, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

In its cooperation with the International Organization for Migration and the Ukrainian authorities, France has also contributed to the rehabilitation of homes for internally displaced persons from Mariupol who have found refuge in Dnipro.

Going a step further, France has also supported a World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organization project using artificial intelligence and satellite imagery to spot and clear fields containing mines, enabling farming to resume. This project is of prime importance for the food security of Ukrainians and the rest of the world, as, until the war, Ukraine was a key agricultural power and exported wheat, corn and sunflower and rape products to many countries. For the same reason, France supported the World Food Programme-designed Grain from Ukraine project which enabled export of Ukrainian flour to the Gaza Strip from the end of 2023.

Action to protect civilians and human rights

Protecting civilians is an obligation under international humanitarian law, which sets down the rules of conduct of hostilities to guarantee effective protection: all those not taking part in hostilities must be protected. This principle applies in particular to the most vulnerable people, including refugees and internally displaced persons, women and children, and those with disabilities, and also involves ensuring civilians have safe and unhindered access to the assistance and services they need.

France supports the activities of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and particularly the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine. The International Committee of the Red Cross maintains dialogue with all parties to enforce international humanitarian law and provides emergency relief for health, rehabilitation, particularly for war wounded, restoration of family ties, and supplies of essential goods and services including water and sanitation.
Through the voluntary contributions of the United Nations, International Organizations, Human Rights and Francophonie Directorate to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, France has provided almost €70 million in support to Ukrainian displaced persons and refugees since the start of the war, including emergency assistance, housing, healthcare and psychosocial support.

Since 2022, the Crisis and Support Centre has funded NGO projects providing protection and specific support to Ukrainians who have been made particularly vulnerable by war and forced displacement. By supporting projects by Terre des Hommes and Triangle Génération Humanitaire, the Centre has for example helped renovate several centres and provide individual support to many displaced families and isolated persons.

Moreover, the Crisis and Support Centre supports the efforts of the Global Survivors Fund and the foundation of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr Denis Mukwege to offer clinical and psychological support, as well as legal and financial assistance, to the survivors of gender-based violence. By involving the Ukrainian authorities in the creation and establishment of this system, France also hopes to advance the fight against impunity for sex crimes. It is with this in mind that France contributed to a project in 2024 to strengthen police units responsible for gender-based violence investigations, led by the United Nations Population Fund. Lastly, France’s contributions to UN Women’s work in Ukraine is motivated by a desire to protect women and girls and foster equal and inclusive representation of women in the professional sphere.

In parallel, support to the Ukrainian people also includes support for mine clearance. The Crisis and Support Centre has financed work by three international NGOs – Humanity & Inclusion, the HALO Trust and the Danish Refugee Council – to map areas with mines and explosive remnants of war, raise local awareness of the related risks, train and equip Ukrainian civil protection mine clearance services, and detect and defuse explosives.

To help fight impunity, the Crisis and Support Centre has provided the Ukrainian justice system with two mobile DNA laboratories. Ukraine’s forensics teams, trained to use these labs by the French National Gendarmerie Forensics Institute, can now carry out swift genetic analysis of biological samples, helping bring the perpetrators of mass atrocities to justice.

Action in water, hygiene and sanitation

Following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam on 6 June 2023, France provided specific emergency support for those directly affected by the resulting floods. This included providing local authorities with equipment to purify drinking water, water tanks, generators, motor pumps and boats.

Since the beginning of the war, France has also supported projects by several NGOs, including ACTED, Aquassistance and Solidarités International, as well as the Veolia Foundation, to support water supplies for the Ukrainian people, as well as minimal standards of hygiene and sanitation.

The projects financed by the Crisis and Support Centre have so far focused on water and sanitary infrastructure damaged by bombardment, and have included:

• Rehabilitation of sewer systems and water treatment stations;
• Securing of the water supplies of the hospital in Lviv and the Unbroken centre, which is dedicated to treatment and rehabilitation of war wounded – which is attached to it;
• Support to Ukrainian water agencies – Vodokanals – for the rehabilitation of water networks.

Action in education and information

Since the start of the war, bombardments have totally or partially destroyed many schools, interrupting schooling. In response, the Crisis and Support Centre has financed projects by two international NGOs – ACTED and the Norwegian Refugee Council – to facilitate the resumption of in-person teaching through the renovation and reconstruction of schools and bomb shelters, delivery of school buses and training teachers in education in emergency contexts.

The Crisis and Support Centre has also supported initiatives by Libraries Without Borders to create reading and study areas in refugee and displaced person centres, using kit-based libraries that can be set up very easy. These projects help Ukrainians continue to access information, study and entertain themselves, constituting psychosocial support.

Lastly, when it comes to fighting information manipulation, France has supported the work of Canal France International, Radio France Internationale and France Médias Monde. By helping exiled Ukrainian journalists and offering Ukrainians training in Bucharest in war journalism, these government agencies help guarantee the access of the public – both Ukrainian and foreign – to objective, exhaustive and verifiable news.

Action in energy

Given the serious damage the war has inflicted on Ukraine’s energy production and transport infrastructure and the risks of disruption to vital services such as hospitals, the Ukrainian authorities highlighted their need for support in the energy sector from 2022.

France has therefore provided more than 250 generators of varying power to the Ukrainian authorities since the start of the war. Via the NGO Electricians Without Borders, the Crisis and Support Centre has also provided generators and solar lamps to schools, medical facilities, refugee and displaced person centres, administrations and pumping stations. These hybrid energy solutions have helped ensure the continuity of certain basic services, including heating, for the Ukrainian families made most vulnerable by the conflict.

Focus on the “A Ship for Ukraine” Operation

Launched on 28 September 2022, the “A Ship for Ukraine” Operation is France’s largest logistics operation in support of Ukraine to date. Over 1,000 tons of humanitarian supplies were delivered to Ukraine in a single convoy, in response to the key needs expressed by the country’s authorities, including medical assistance, food assistance and emergency civil security and repair equipment. This operation demonstrated France’s solidarity and that of its local government bodies, civil society and businesses, with the Ukrainian people.

After a 10-day trip from Marseille, the Aknoul, provided by the CMA CGM Foundation, reached the Port of Constanţa in Romania. Civil security vehicles were then sent by road to the Suceava humanitarian platform on the Romania-Ukraine border. The various donations were delivered to their Ukrainian beneficiaries, particularly the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU), the Ministry of Health, and several oblasts and cities.

Updated: November 2024