Ukraine: Humanitarian Access Severity Overview (October 2025) [EN/UK]

OVERVIEW

Humanitarian response operations continue to be primarily hindered by the escalating hostilities across Ukraine, particularly in front-line areas. In the six months since the previous Access Severity Overview, conducted in May 2025, humanitarian operations have become increasingly constrained by the loss of physical access due to front-line shifts in Donetska, Dnipropetrovska and Kharkivska oblasts. Humanitarians ability to work has also deteriorated with the expansion of areas with extremely high access constraints along the more static front line in Khersonska, Zaporizka, Sumska oblasts, as well as in hromadas bordering on the Russian Federation in Sumska, Kharkivska and Chernihivska oblasts.

METHODOLOGY

The Humanitarian Access Working Group conducted the second bi-annual humanitarian access severity analysis for Ukraine as of 1 October 2025. The previous one was conducted in May 2025. In the process, workshops covered the eight front-line/border oblasts done at the hromada level. 62 individual organizations and 102 participants provided their inputs on humanitarian access severity levels and constraints, grouped into eight categories based on the Access Monitoring and Reporting Framework (AMRF) guidelines covering:

1. denial of the existence of humanitarian needs or of the entitlements to humanitarian assistance
2. restriction of movement of agencies, personnel, or goods within the affected areas
3. military operations and ongoing hostilities impending humanitarian operations
4. violence against humanitarian personnel, assets, and facilities
5. interference in the implementation of humanitarian activities
6. presence of mines and UXOs
7. physical environment
8. restrictions on, or obstruction of conflict affected populations’ access to services and assistance.

Separate focus group discussions were held for UN Agencies, international and national NGO partners. Each group gave a qualitative assessment of the humanitarian access situation in their respective regions. The data collection aimed to develop a joint understanding of the current operational environment, including major changes and emerging trends in Ukraine. The Access Severity Mapping is designed to complement other monitoring tools, such as the incident-based AMRF, using a four-point severity scale. This scale ranges from Level 1 reflecting low access constraints to Level 4 reflecting extremely high access constraints. The current round also introduced a scoring system as a working mechanism to reflect granular changes in the access environment and differences between neighboring hromadas within the same level. The total of 100 scores was evenly divided between levels with Level 1 ranging from 1 to 25, Level 2 – 26-50, Level 3 – 51-75, Level 4, 76-100.It is used to adapt operational activities and develop advocacy strategies with the aim of improving humanitarian access to people in need.