Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal (2024)

Conflict escalates in Ukraine

Ukraine’s long-running conflict with Russia dramatically escalates with large numbers of Russian troops crossing the border from Russia and Belarus and air strikes reported across Ukraine.

The DEC launches the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal to help civilians affected by the conflict in Ukraine and neighbouring countries, in what would become one of the largest ever DEC appeals.

TV appeals are presented by Adrian Lester on the BBC and Kit Harrington on ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky. £55 million is raised in the first 24 hours.

Two million refugees flee Ukraine

Less than two weeks after Russian forces entered Ukraine, two million refugees have fled the country, with half estimated to be children.DEC charities are on the border helping people as they cross with a range of support.

Mariupol hospital bombing

The city of Mariupol quickly becomes a flash point in the conflict. On 10 March a maternity and children’s hospital is hit by an airstrike causing severe damage and killing several people.Images of the aftermath of the strike are broadcast around the world. On 16 March, Mariupol’s theatre, in which many civilians took shelter, is hit causing many casualties.

The DEC’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal raises £200 million in just two weeks, including £25 million matched by the UK Government.

The total represents the equivalent of £3 for every person in the UK, reflecting the hugely generous response of the public, with fundraising events held across the country.

Quarter of Ukraine’s population flee homes

Less than a month after the escalation of the conflict, a quarter of Ukraine’s population have fled their homes. The majority have fled to other parts of the country, with many settling in the west, further from the fighting.DEC charities provide temporary accommodation, food and other support to people arriving in Ukrainian cities.

ITV airs a two-hour concert live from Birmingham to raise funds for the DEC's Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. It features Ed Sheeran, Camila Cabello, Paloma Faith, Nile Rodgers & Chic as well as many others.

The concert is organised by ITV, Livewire and Global Radio, and raised over £13.4 million in 24 hours.

Russian troops withdraw from Kyiv

On 6 April, after fierce fighting to the north of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, Russian forces withdraw from large areas of northern Ukraine. This allows DEC charities to access communities in the area such as Bucha and Borodyanka with much needed support.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine, DEC charity CAFOD are working with volunteers who are delivering food and medicine to vulnerable people by bicycle due to the fuel shortages, despite the frontline being nearby, and Kharkiv coming under frequent fire.

Cyclist Alexander sends his family away moves into the warehouse for safety. “As bicycle delivery volunteers, we are united by a common goal - to help,” he says. “We are alive, and that is enough to be happy.”

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Having found their feet in new countries, many refugees begin volunteering to help others. At a warehouse run by a partner of Plan International using DEC funds in Chisinau, Moldova, many of the people sorting and packing food and other items, as well as offering advice, area refugees themselves.

“I feel great here,” says Tatiana (right). “Our team is very kind and sympathetic. How can you not help people? Of course we can’t sit doing nothing, we want to work.”

Ukraine retakes parts of Kharkiv

In September, Ukrainian forces retake large areas of the Kharkiv region, increasing humanitarian access there and in Kharkiv city. DEC charities adapt their programmes to deliver aid to the newly accessible areas.

Targeting of Ukraine’s power grid

As winter approaches, Ukraine’s civilian power infrastructure is increasingly targeted, affecting heating and electricity. DEC charities and their local partners use the DEC’s flexible funding to adapt their plans to keep people safe and warm, providing generators, fuel, blankets and warm clothing.

Russian forces withdraw from Kherson

In November, Russian forces withdraw from the city of Kherson to the left bank of the river Dnipro, expanding humanitarian access.

After Ukraine's power grid come under attack, many people are left without electricity or heating in freezing winter conditions. DEC charities work to provide winter clothing, fuel and generators for people living in shelters.

In Kharkiv, a local partner of CAFOD and Plan International provide generators, repairs, food and other items to the shelter where Olesia* is living. "We have electricity here so there’s an opportunity for our children to have an education," says her mum.

As we approach a year of humanitarian response, singer Paloma Faith and actor Simon Pegg visit refugees in Poland and Romania to see how DEC charities are helping.

“Many families came to Poland expecting to be here only for a short period but one year on from the start of the conflict, people are struggling with the reality of living in limbo for such a long time. Thanks to the generosity of the British public, there are so many different kinds of support that DEC charities are funding through local partners," says Paloma.

In the early hours of 6 June, an apparent explosion destroys the Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro river. The breaching of the dam causes water from the Kakhovka reservoir, which is at a 30-year high, to flow downstream flooding large areas, including parts of Kherson city.

DEC charities scramble to help thousands of people who were forced to flee their homes, both in Kherson itself and when they arrived in other cities such as Mykolaiv and Odesa.

Two years after the escalation of the conflict, donations to the DEC appeal reach £426 million. The funds continue to enable member charties and their local partners to help an estimated 6.9 million people.

The majority of aid spending (58%) has been focused inside Ukraine, with funds also being spent to help refugees in Poland, Romania, Moldova and Hungary. Aid programmes are set to continue until the end of February 2025.

Two years on from the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, the needs and ways in which DEC charities deliver aid have changed.

Whilst some elements of the response have stayed the same, other needs have changed over time. For example food, water and medicine are still needed by many, but others outside of Ukraine have settled in their neighbouring countries, and are looking for more long term forms of support.

In the article below, we detail three ways people’s needs are changing, and how DEC charities are adapting their programmes to meet them.

The UK response to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal has been truly extraordinary.

Individual fundraisers, community groups, academic institutions, employees and companies, arts organisations, trusts and foundations, celebrities and sports clubs all dedicated time and effort to raise money for the appeal.

Thanks to your support, we set a new Guinness World Record for the most money raised online in one week (£61,997,547) when we launched the appeal. A year on, that figure has risen to over £400 million.

Read more for a snapshot of some of that incredible support.

In February 2022 conflict erupted in Ukraine causing widespread damage and loss of life - and triggering a massive humanitarian crisis.

Millions of lives were turned upside down and families were torn apart. Facing impossible decisions, many were left cold, hungry and homeless. But they were not alone.

Each image in the gallery is an example of how millions of acts of generosity are delivering real impacts for people affected by the conflict, thanks to your donations.

The DEC has released a powerful 60-second TV ad highlighting the UK public's hugely generous response to the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal which has raised over £400 million one year since the conflict escalated.

The film was shot in Ukraine in February 2023 by a mostly Ukrainian crew and features the Ukrainian cast reciting lyrics from ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. Although the people in the film are actors, they represent real stories of people who have been helped by DEC charities using funds from the appeal, and have all themselves been affected by the conflict.

The DEC has launched a major report on its response to the ever-changing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine over the first year of the conflict.

Based on programmatic data, detailed interviews with aid workers and testimonies gathered from people affected, the report provides a powerful insight on how donations from the UK public have enabled DEC charities to provide vital aid to millions of people in need, both inside Ukraine and in neighbouring countries.

The incredibly generous response of donors in the UK means that the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal has now raised over £400 million, making the DEC the biggest charity donor to the response inside Ukraine and for the regional refugee response, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Financial Tracking Service.

DEC charities have used funds to work directly while also supporting a range of local organisations across five countries, reaching vulnerable and marginalised groups such as women and children, older people, those with disabilities, ethnic minorities and the LGBTQ+ community.

Examples of aid delivered by DEC charities and their local partners included in the report are:

• Projects to provide food to people in war-torn areas, including a team of volunteer cycle couriers delivering food and medicines to vulnerable people in their homes.
• Working with Ukraine’s Ministry of Health to deliver 75,000 life-saving trauma kits for civilian use and 34 incubators for premature babies.
• Providing generators for people in bomb shelters to keep them safe and warm over winter as the targeting of Ukraine’s power grid leaves them without electricity and heating.
• Programmes giving refugees and displaced people cash payments so that they can decide how best to meet their own needs.
• Supporting special schools in Poland for refugee children with Ukrainian teachers, as well as 20 ‘digital learning centres’ for children and parents.
• Providing mental health support to people recover from their experiences of the conflict.

The journalist and broadcaster Jon Snow has narrated a 15-minute documentary on the DEC's Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. The film shows how people across the UK came together to raise money for the appeal, and how those donations have gone on to help millions of people in Ukraine and neighbouring countries since the conflict began. Featuring interviews with aid workers and people who have benefitted from DEC funded projects, it tells the story of how the crisis has unfolded, and how DEC charities have responded.

If you can't spare 15 minutes, there is also a five-minute version available here.

Generators are as important as armour in helping the civilian population survive this winter in Ukraine, PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskiy has told an emergency conference in Paris convened to coordinate infrastructure and humanitarian aid to the country over the next four months, reports Patrick Wintourfor The Guardian.

"Most of our power plants are damaged or destroyed by the bombings,” said Zelenskiy. "That’s why the generators have become as important as armour to protect the population.” Strikes to key infrastructure have caused power outages across the Ukraine as temperatures are falling in a country where it can reach -20C.

DEC charities are working with local partners to distribute and install generators, from small portable models to larger ones to power shelters, as well as other essential items like food, clean water and medical care to people across Ukraine this winter.