As the number of people uprooted by the war has exceeded 10 million and the humanitarian crisis continues to deepen, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Mission in Ukraine, and the European Union are reaching internally displaced and war-affected people with much-needed support.

With financial support from the EU, IOM was able to distribute 8,800 hygiene kits in Zaporizhia, Zakarpattia and Dnipropetrovsk regions. More deliveries are foreseen for the near future, including in hard-to-reach areas.

The distributed hygiene kits are part of a vast pipeline of close to 50,000 metric tons that IOM was able to set up in the first weeks of the war. Through its system of logistics hubs and warehouses in various countries, including inside Ukraine, IOM will now receive dozens of trucks with humanitarian aid per week for the response in Ukraine.

This aid is only one component of the multi-sectoral response supported through the EU-funded project for the next few months. War-affected communities across Ukraine will benefit from increased access to critical non-food items (NFI), such as hygiene kits for individuals, households and collective centers, as well as basement and emergency shelter repair kits.

IOM will provide in-kind assistance to up to 60,000 vulnerable persons, prioritizing pregnant and single women, families with two or more children, persons with disabilities or chronic diseases and the elderly. Displaced households will receive hygiene and NFI kits, while people who are staying in insecure areas and are forced to seek shelter will be provided with more tailored emergency kits meant to support survival in basements.

To ensure safe and dignified conditions for newly displaced persons, IOM will support collective centres that have been urgently set up across the country to host fleeing Ukrainians, as well as social and medical facilities providing services to IDPs. IOM will rehabilitate and equip common areas such as laundry rooms, showers or toilets, replace windows and repair sewage and heating systems in an effort to ensure that they can accommodate and support high numbers of vulnerable individuals, minimizing their exposure to protection risk and mitigating the likelihood of morbidity and mortality. In addition, where applicable, IOM will also establish child-friendly spaces within the collective centres.

As lack of public transport remains one of the key concerns in the war-affected regions of Ukraine and transportation costs have skyrocketed across the country, where applicable and feasible, the EU and IOM will provide cash and voucher transportation support and will advocate with the private sector to facilitate movements.

“It is encouraging to see how this recently launched project is already having a direct effect on the ground through the first deliveries of hygiene kits”, said Marco Chimenton, IOM Ukraine’s Emergency Coordinator. “The needs remain huge and we are grateful to the European Union for making this possible. Much more support will need to come, and we will continue to strive to improve the Ukrainian population’s access to quality goods, essential services and protection.”

“The war in Ukraine is amounting to a humanitarian catastrophe. We are doing everything in our power to get relief items to the Ukrainian people, and to help them access life-saving services”, said Yorgos Kapranis, EU humanitarian aid emergency coordinator for Ukraine. “Urgently needed relief items funded by the European Union are being delivered to the most vulnerable civilians in Ukraine as we speak through humanitarian partners like IOM.”