Reuters: UN refugee agency cuts aid for displaced Ukrainians

The United Nations Refugee Agency UNHCR said on 25 February it was forced to reduce support for newly displaced Ukrainians as frontline attacks intensified, citing the suspension of US aid and broader donor cutbacks, Reuters reports.

According to Reuters, Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR Representative in Ukraine, reportedly stated via videolink,

“We have had to put some of these [programs] partially on hold, or we are prudent in the way we are implementing, because of course we cannot spend more than what we have mobilized funding for.”

According to UNHCR, halted programs include psycho-social support, emergency shelter material and cash assistance. US aid previously accounted for 40% of UNHCR’s Ukraine funding, but other Western donors have also scaled back as they prioritize defense budgets.

As a result of the funding crisis, UNHCR said its $3.32 billion appeal to support 8.2 million people in Ukraine is only 25% funded.

Since January 2025, nearly 9,000 displaced people have passed through UNHCR transit centers in Pavlohrad and Sumy. The agency has been providing clothes, hygiene kits, legal assistance, and psycho-social support to evacuees. Billing noted that displaced persons “have arrived with little or no belongings and deeply traumatized.”

UNHCR also reported that over 200,000 people have been displaced or evacuated from frontline areas between August 2024 and March 2025. Several regions, including Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Pavlohrad, have come under intensified attack recently.

Update:

Iryna Tymchyshyn, a Communications Specialist at the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Ukraine, contacted us regarding this article, and provided corrections to the original report:

“The original source misquoted the UNHCR Representative, Karolina Lindholm Billing, regarding the suspension of certain UNHCR programs due to cuts in US funding. At present, there is no suspension of any programs—they continue to be implemented. However, due to a lack of funding, the number of people planned to receive assistance has been reduced,” she wrote.

The UNHCR’s $550 million appeal for Ukraine is only 25% funded, forcing the agency to cut the number of people it prioritizes.

“We had to reduce the number of people we are prioritising,” Billing said, urging donors to provide funding.