To help protect vulnerable households from harsh winter conditions, UNHCR, in collaboration with the Government of Ukraine, is providing one-time cash assistance of UAH 19,400 per household. This support is intended to help families in frontline areas purchase solid fuel for heating during the winter season 2025/2026.
Only households that on the date of submitting application reside in residential buildings/premises heated with solid fuel may be considered for this type of assistance in the following nine oblasts:
- Sumy;
- Kharkiv;
- Kherson;
- Luhansk;
- Donetsk;
- Dnipropetrovsk;
- Zaporizhzhia;
- Mykolaiv;
- Chernihiv
Frist Priority: Cash assistance for heating will be provided to recipients who at the time of application reside in territorial communities (settlements) within a 10-kilometer zone from the state border with the Russian Federation or the front line. The reference date to delineate the front line is 01 July 2025.
Second Priority: Within the limits of available funding and as a second priority, Cash assistance for heating will be provided to socially vulnerable recipients residing in some territorial communities (settlements) beyond the 10-kilometer zone that are at higher risk of exposure during winter season.
Priority categories of socially vulnerable recipients of Cash assistance for heating are:
- Recipients of a housing subsidy for the purchase of solid stove fuel;
- Recipients of a benefit for the purchase of solid stove fuel;
- Older people living alone who are not able to work;
- A single mother (single father) who is not married and the record of the father (mother) of such a child is entered in the Register of Births in accordance with the established procedure at the direction of the mother (father), or the mother (father) in case of the death of one of the parents receiving assistance to single mothers (fathers);
- Persons receiving childbirth assistance; large families; persons with disabilities (together with their family members) and families with a child/children with disabilities;
- Families consisting of internally displaced persons (except for families consisting of internally displaced persons temporarily accommodated free of charge in buildings, structures, premises, where compensation for consumed housing and communal services is provided to institutions, enterprises, institutions, organizations regardless of ownership, individual entrepreneurs, as approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of May 27, 2025 No. 616 “Some issues of providing state support for the accommodation of internally displaced persons”);
- Family-type children’s homes in which at least one child from among orphans or children deprived of parental care, or persons from among them, or children left without parental care is placed for upbringing; foster families in which at least one child from among orphans or children deprived of parental care, or persons from among them, or children left without parental care is placed for upbringing.
Enrolment for Cash for winter Assistance
The enrollment for winter assistance is guided by Resolution No. 985, dated 13 August 2025, which outlines the application process. UNHCR is not directly enrolling for the program. Eligible households can submit their applications to local government authorities at their declared/registered or actual place of residence/stay in the nine frontline regions:
- Sumy;
- Kharkiv;
- Kherson;
- Luhansk;
- Donetsk;
- Dnipropetrovsk;
- Zaporizhzhia;
- Mykolaiv;
- Chernihiv.
Applications may be submitted:
- In person at local authorities
- Electronically (with a qualified electronic signature)
The deadline for application is 24 August 2025.
PLEASE NOTE: UNHCR do not provide registration for Winter Heating program.
Questions should be addressed to the local authorities. UNHCR cannot respond to any questions why a household was selected or not for cash for winter assistance program.
Cash assistance for winter amount and delivery method
The assistance amount is UAH 19,400 per household regardless of family size. UNHCR will ensure that households are only paid once. All referred households will go through a thorough verification exercise and de-duplication with other humanitarian partners. The whole amount will be transferred to one member of the household, who is registered as head of household/focal point through the transfer method selected by the head of the household (Bank, PrivatMoney or Western Union transfer).
PLEASE NOTE: Households who received or are receiving regular multipurpose cash assistance from UNHCR will not be excluded from winter assistance, if also identified by the local authorities.
Data Requisite
UNHCR will receive personal data from the Local Government authorities and MoSP for the purpose of executing payments in line with national data protection regulations.
UNHCR receives personal data only for households that are eligible for assistance. These include:
- Name, patronymic and surname, sex and date of birth of all household members
- Tax IDs for all household members
- Bank details (IBAN) and phone number for the head of household
- Address of selected households
- Specific needs or vulnerabilities of the households/ reason for inclusion (applicable for 2nd priority)
Q&A: Data Correction for Winter Cash Assistance Applications
During the initial phase of data receipt, UNHCR reviews key data fields to ensure the successful delivery of assistance. In certain cases, the UNHCR hotline team may contact applicants to verify or correct potential data entry errors—such as inaccuracies in Tax ID, passport number, or IBAN information.
Simultaneously, applicants may request updates or corrections to their application exclusively through the UNHCR hotline, and only for the following specific cases:
1. Name, Patronymic, and Surname
- Replacement to the name of the head of household are not permitted via the hotline.
- The UNHCR hotline team can correct spelling errors in names or update the surname of the application where there has been change in the applicants’ marital status.
- If a change to the head of household’s name is needed, applicants must contact local authorities.
- Local authorities must resubmit the updated data to UNHCR through the agreed data-sharing mechanism.
2. Sex and Date of Birth
- The UNHCR hotline team cannot change the sex or date of birth of any household member, including the head of household.
3. Tax Identification Numbers (Tax IDs) and/or Passport numbers
- The UNHCR hotline team may contact applicants to verify or correct potential data entry errors—such as inaccuracies in Tax ID or passport number during data analysis/clean up as well as upon notification from the bank. However, the UNHCR hotline team will not update or correct Tax IDs or passport number upon the request of the applicant during this period.
4. Bank Details (IBAN) and Phone Number
- The hotline team can:
- Correct mistakes in IBAN due to data entry errors.
- The UNHCR hotline team may contact applicants to verify or correct potential data entry errors—such as inaccuracies in IBAN number during data analysis/clean up as well as upon notification from the bank. However, the UNHCR hotline team will not update or correct IBAN information upon the request of the applicant during this period.
- If the applicant wishes to use a different family member’s bank account, they must contact local authorities.
- Local authorities must resubmit the updated data to UNHCR.
5. Address of Selected Households
- The UNHCR hotline team cannot change or correct household addresses.
6. Specific Needs or Vulnerabilities (Applicable for 2nd Priority Households)
- The hotline team cannot update, or correct information related to household vulnerabilities or reasons for inclusion.