UKRAINE: “I FEAR I WON’T BE ABLE TO HELP MY CHILD”: 75% OF PEOPLE STRUGGLING TO MAKE ENDS MEET AFTER 3 YEARS OF WAR

Toronto, February 17, 2025 – Three in four people in Ukraine face financial hardship after three years of full-scale war, with women and children bearing the brunt of skyrocketing poverty, often struggling to afford nutritious food, clothes and hygiene products, Save the Children said.

Following three years of bombardments and attacks across the country, thousands of families and children in Ukraine have experienced catastrophic loss. Not only have many lost their loved ones and homes, they have also lost their incomes, savings and support networks, while the cost of rent, utility bills and food has risen sharply.

 Nearly 75% of people are struggling to make ends meet, according to Ukraine’s 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan led by the United Nations (UN). Other UN reports indicate families are resorting to desperate measures to survive, such as selling their homes, asking strangers for money, reducing healthcare spending or taking high-risk jobs.

Women and girls – who represent more than half of those in need of humanitarian support – are the most vulnerable to poverty and exploitation, especially women-headed households, which often have lower incomes and reduced access to food and healthcare.

Millions of people have lost their jobs, with displaced women hardest hit, and salaries have dropped from a monthly average of UAH 7,000 hryvna (US$184) in 2022 to UAH 5,000 ($132), while food has surged in price, with cabbages, carrots and potatoes more than doubling in cost since 2022. It’s estimated that nearly 5 million people in Ukraine – 60% of whom are women and children – will face food insecurity in 2025 and won’t have regular access to nutritious food.

A new study conducted by Save the Children with more than 870 children and adults in conflict-affected regions in the south, east and north of Ukraine found that 55% of people renting properties cannot pay their rent on time and 46% of respondents have requested financial aid to cover utility costs.

The study also found that 42% of households find it difficult to access hygiene items such as soap, shampoo and towels, with some women and children being forced to prioritise food over hygiene items. More than 10% of women said they faced challenges accessing menstrual hygiene products.

Save the Children has seen how debilitating poverty is driving families to make impossible choices.

Some children living in institutional care have told Save the Children’s case workers that their parents were forced to place them in the institution for the winter to ensure they were housed and fed. There are also cases of parents giving their children to relatives in other safer locations while they remain in dangerous areas so they can continue to work and provide for their children.

Raisa*, 61, is raising her 14-year-old granddaughter, Yana*, in one of the 1,800 collective shelters in Ukraine where people of different ages and genders often share dormitory-style rooms and communal bathrooms and kitchens. Yana’s mother died before the war, and they have now been displaced from their home in the Donetsk region. Raisa said:

“I grew up in a well-off family, and I was well-off with my husband. But then my husband passed away. A year later, my daughter passed away, my granddaughter’s mother. And then, the war started…and we were in a hopeless situation. We had to move somewhere without renting an apartment. I couldn’t survive on my pension of UAH 3,000 (US$71 per month). Of course, prices skyrocketed. Everything became expensive.

“When we arrived here (collective shelter), we had no blankets, nothing. We only have one fridge for 14 families. Also, just one microwave for 14 families. I fear I won’t be able to help my (grand) child. It’s very hard for me. I’ve never been in such a situation.”

Olena*, 31, has three children and has been displaced six times in the past three years. Her nine-year-old daughter, Anna*, has scoliosis and sometimes they cannot afford the medical care she needs, or to cover the costs of rent and utility bills:

“There’ve been situations when we had nothing to pay [the bills and rent] with. We have health issues, which during wartime is very difficult. [Anna] needs rehabilitation…things like physiotherapy, massages, and swimming for the eldest are costly. These relocations and financial struggles have affected us deeply.

 “As for our village, it’s almost gone, it’s been completely burned to the ground. Even if the war ends, I can’t imagine what our life will be like because we still won’t be able to return home. There’s no life there anymore.”
Save the Children’s Country Director in Ukraine, Sonia Khush, said:

“Three years of full-scale war in Ukraine – on top of the distress caused by years of COVID lockdowns – has shattered children’s lives. Their childhoods have been ripped away as they’ve been forced from their homes, witnessed the bombing of their schools and communities, lost loved ones and friends, lived in fear during endless air raid alerts and spent thousands of hours sheltering in corridors and freezing basements. From children living on the frontline of the war to those who have been displaced from their homes, the scale of loss is catastrophic.

“Many children have been plunged into poverty and now live in conflict-damaged homes their families cannot afford to repair. Some don’t know where their next meal will come from while others shiver through the night because there’s not enough money to buy blankets and proper winter clothes. The future of the war, and the international politics that surround it, are unclear. But what is clear is that children are suffering the most in this brutal war, and urgent action is needed to stop them falling through the cracks.

“Save the Children is calling on the government of Ukraine and the international community to prioritize investments in education, healthcare, housing, nutrition, and social support. Addressing child poverty and providing adequate assistance will not only lay the foundation for a stronger, more resilient society in the aftermath of the war, but more immediately it will reduce suffering and will help prevent family separation and the institutionalization of vulnerable children.”

Since 24 February 2022, Save the Children has significantly scaled up its operations and has supported more than 3.8 million children and adults, including delivering US$60 million in emergency cash assistance for families struggling to buy food, pay for rent and utilities and to repair their homes, and providing families with household supplies, winter and hygiene items and drinking water.

ENDS

Content:

• Yana* (14) & Raisa* (61), displacement & financial hardship, war in Ukraine
• Anna* (9) & Olena* (33), displacement & financial hardship, war in Ukraine

 Notes to editors

• *Names changed to protect identities
• Save the Children conducted a Multi-Sector Needs Assessment with 858 adults and 15 children living in Sumska, Kharkivska, Mykolaivska, Khersonska, Dnipropetrovska, Zaporizizka, and Donetska oblasts in November 2024. The Save the Children research referenced in this press release is sourced from this assessment.
• The Government of Ukraine has not officially tracked the poverty levels across Ukraine since 2022, due to the ongoing hostilities and mass displacement. A UN analysis from 2023 suggests the percentage of children living in poverty had almost doubled from 43 per cent to 82 per cent in 2023.