After four years of full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s women need your support now
February 2026 marks four years of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Four years of devastating war, with thousands killed and millions of women and families displaced from their homes. Millions more are living without essential utilities – heating, electricity, water – and with reduced access to healthcare, education and employment.
2025 was the deadliest year for civilians in Ukraine since February 2022. More than 5,000 women and girls have been killed and nearly 14,000 injured since the onset of the war. These are the figures confirmed by the UN, but the actual toll is likely higher.
Sources: Protection of civilians in armed conflict, December 2025 update, OHCHR; The impact of foreign assistance cuts on women’s rights and women-led organizations in Ukraine, completed in January 2026 by the Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group (GiHA WG) in Ukraine – co-chaired by UN Women, NGO Girls and CARE Ukraine.
Ukrainian women are leading the war response despite the escalating funding crisis
Against all odds, the women of Ukraine have been carrying the country forward. They are sustaining communities when basic infrastructure and services break down, caring for families, running businesses, driving transportation, and fighting on the front lines.
But resilience doesn’t run on empty. The women of Ukraine are fighting another emergency now: International donors have made dramatic funding cuts, severely impacting their ability to cope with the war and support communities that depend on them.
79 per cent of 108 women-led and women’s rights organizations surveyed in Ukraine report significant disruptions to their operations in 2025. Half have scaled down and suspended one or more programmes. The programmes that support gender-based violence services and women’s economic empowerment have suffered the deepest cuts. Systematic attacks on the energy infrastructure are also having a direct effect on women and women’s organizations’ ability to function.
Press release: Women and girls in Ukraine face a deadly triple crisis
Trapped by war, energy attacks and funding cuts, women and girls in Ukraine risk losing the support they do have as one in three women’s organizations surveyed warn they may only survive six months or less with current funding levels.
How to help women in Ukraine
Stand with UN Women to support women leading Ukraine’s response.
UN Women is staying and delivering alongside women’s organizations and government authorities in Ukraine.
The decisions on funding cuts have life-changing consequences for women and girls in Ukraine. They cannot be an after-thought. They need immediate and flexible funding support now.
Ukrainian women must remain at the heart of the war response, peace negotiations and gender-responsive recovery.
Five ways UN Women delivers critical aid and services
UN Women has been on the ground with Ukrainian women since the beginning, supporting their organizations and ensuring that women’s perspectives, voices, and experiences inform humanitarian response, gender-responsive recovery plans and political decisions.
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The war in Ukraine has led to more than 4.2 million refugees and over 7 million internally displaced people.
UN Women is committed to supporting the people of Ukraine, especially women and girls, at this time of greatest need.
Banner image: Ilona Usyk leads an initiative for internally displaced women living at a collective site in Kharkiv, February 2026. The group helps women stay informed about project activities implemented by UN Women Ukraine in partnership with NGO “Unity Platform.” The project is financially supported by the Governments of Sweden and Latvia, as well as by the UN Women National Committees. Photo: UN Women/Denys Kryvopyshyn