How UNICEF’s supply response in Ukraine evolved amid a devastating year for children
Read more about the life-saving supplies UNICEF has been delivering to Ukraine and surrounding countries.
On 24 February 2022, life in Ukraine changed overnight. One year of relentless war has been devastating for children and families. Around 1,200 children have lost their lives, and 5.9 million people are internally displaced.
Shortly after the first air raid sirens echoed across the sky, the UNICEF supply and logistics response got underway. Since then, UNICEF has delivered more than 14,000 metric tons of essential supplies, including medicines, water purification tablets, blankets, education materials, generators and more.
As challenges arose, UNICEF’s supply response evolved to overcome them – all to ensure children receive the life-saving supplies and services they need to survive.
The focus is on making it happen, so as windows of opportunity open, we’re taking full advantage to move supplies.
When the war in Ukraine broke out, UNICEF quickly responded to the needs of children and families. The first supplies, including First Aid kits, medicines, and medical equipment, were packed and departed the UNICEF Supply and Logistics Hub in Copenhagen, Denmark, within 24 hours. They were transported to a supply hub in Lviv where they were then distributed to the most vulnerable people.
In the first month of war, UNICEF had a single supply route through Poland into Ukraine. From the border, trucks would travel onwards to a warehouse that UNICEF set up on the grounds of an old chicken factory in Lviv. The temporary warehouse soon became a critical piece of infrastructure as the storage and collection point for supplies to be delivered around Ukraine.
Visit a newborn intensive care unit in Lviv Hospital
At the world’s largest humanitarian warehouse, UNICEF staff have been packing water, sanitation and hygiene kits, as well as dignity kits for those affected by the war. A kit is designed to meet the needs of a family of five (two adults and three children/adolescents) for one month. Items in the kit include water containers, a bucket, a child’s potty, soap, water purification tablets, a torch, sanitary pads, underwear and laundry detergent.
Throughout the war, UNICEF has delivered Early Childhood Development (ECD) kits, designed for infants, toddlers and pre-school children. Up to 50 children can use one kit, and there are over 40 items inside that are essential for children’s learning and development. They include puzzles, paper, colouring pencils, building blocks and dominoes, so children can play and tell stories, giving them some normalcy amid the conflict around them.
The charter flight donation from logistics company Kuehne + Nagel enabled UNICEF to ship 111 metric tons of supplies from the United Arab Emirates to Poland. Within 48 hours of touchdown, the first deliveries reached UNICEF’s warehouse in Lviv, Ukraine, for distribution throughout the country. The plane carried education materials for 40,000 children, recreation kits for 31,500 children and adolescents, safe water and hygiene kits for 3,700 people, blankets, shelters and other supplies.
Nastya, 7, from Shemyotovo, near Odesa, Ukraine, is drawing at a ‘Blue Dot’ centre in Isaccea, Romania in April. Blue Dots are facilities set up by UNICEF and UNHCR in countries hosting refugees from the war, of which 40 have been opened since February 2022. They provide a safe, warm space for travelling children and families to get information and access essential services. UNICEF has been delivering recreation kits, hygiene supplies and sanitation items to Blue Dots for families on the move.
UNICEF’s school renovation work in preparation for the school year
In December 2022, UNICEF delivered 185 wheelchairs to children with disabilities in Ukraine. The wheelchairs support children like 11-year-old Margaryta to gain a new sense of independence after the distress of being uprooted from her home. Now, she can meet other people, attend school and pick up her favourite book.
How UNICEF-supplied water plants are supporting a Ukrainian town
Danylo, a newborn, sleeps in a hospital ward in Lviv, Ukraine. His mother Halyna gave birth to him in a relatively safe place in Lviv soon after they escaped explosions in their hometown. UNICEF has been supporting mothers and children by distributing Baby Boxes to hospitals around the country, which contain essential items such as diapers, clothes and toys.
Hundreds of displaced and local children celebrate the new year at Kharkiv’s Spilno Child Spot, run by UNICEF and partners. Below ground, colouring pencils and games. It is a world away from the ongoing war above, from which thousands of Kharkiv residents took shelter at the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
Hundreds of displaced and local children celebrate the new year at Kharkiv’s Spilno Child Spot, run by UNICEF and partners. Below ground, colouring pencils and games. It is a world away from the ongoing war above, from which thousands of Kharkiv residents took shelter at the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
