Five weeks of continuous support: how the Ukrainian Red Cross helps Ukrainians during the energy crisis

For five weeks since the energy crisis began to escalate, the Ukrainian Red Cross has been providing continuous humanitarian support to residents of Kyiv and communities across the country.

The organizationʼs CEO Maksym Dotsenko said that since the beginning of January 2026, the Ukrainian Red Cross has been supporting the work of over a hundred heat points that the State Emergency Service deployed in Kyiv.

The Ukrainian Red Cross is also deploying its own heating points, where people can warm up, get hot food and drinks, and charge their gadgets. In total, over 250 000 people received assistance during this period.

In parallel, the Ukrainian Red Cross provides heating support points based on Kyiv schools. To support residents, more than 15 260 blankets, 5 040 sleeping kits, almost 6 000 hygiene kits, heat guns and hot meals were donated. Volunteers and staff also provide psycho-social support.

Additionally, the organization supports the work of 40 field kitchens of the State Emergency Service — transfers necessary food and delivers thousands of portions of hot meals and drinks. Volunteers deliver food to heating points, as well as targeted assistance to people with limited mobility and lonely people who cannot reach the heating points on their own.

A separate area of response is community energy resilience. The Ukrainian Red Cross has delivered 560 generators with a total capacity of 9.16 MW across the country to support critical infrastructure facilities, inviolability points, and social protection institutions.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian Army has already transferred over 15,000 generators to support medical facilities, schools, and kindergartens.

International partners have made a significant contribution to this work. Of the 560 generators, 447 were provided from the European Unionʼs #rescEU strategic reserve under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. They are intended to support communities most affected by attacks on energy infrastructure. A further 34 powerful generators were provided by the German and Belgian Red Cross.

The Ukrainian Red Cross continues to coordinate with government services and international partners, responding promptly to the needs of communities.

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