Attachments
Key Highlights
• Emergency power outages across Ukraine and continued attacks are increasing displacement and the need for humanitarian assistance.
• WFP reached more than 40,000 people with in-kind double distribution in May (70% in Kharkiv and 30% in Donetsk regions), in preparation for potential access challenges.
• WFP has supported Kharkiv evacuees with over 10,000 food rations, and cash to over 1,500 evacuees.
• On 28 May, a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding was signed between WFP, FAO, and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine to strengthen cooperation for the agricultural mine action project.
• 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan planning has started with the first inter-cluster discussions on 28 May.
Situation Update
Prolonged emergency power shutdowns have become a daily ordeal throughout Ukraine, with the latest large-scale attacks on energy infrastructure on 1 June. While nationwide rolling blackouts were implemented in May, following a series of attacks since April, the newly tightened power schedule raises alarm for potential worsening of shortages, as need spikes in late summer and does not bode well for the difficult winter period.
In May, the new coordinated offensive on Ukraine has centred on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region. Sixteen close-to-border towns have become either occupied or contested since, further reducing humanitarian access. Displacement is increasing, as nearly 12,000 people have been evacuated from the Kharkiv region so far.
On 15 May, WFP participated in the coordination meeting organized by the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration to assist coordination of emergency response in Kharkiv region. Chaired by the Minister of temporally occupied territories, the meeting was also attended by OCHA, IOM, UNICEF, international and national NGOs, as well as volunteer groups. WFP has provided 10,203 rations of in-kind assistance (9,964 ready-to-eat rations and 239 30-day rations) to evacuees at the central Kharkiv city transit centre in May. Over 1,500 evacuees also received the first cash assistance transfers after data cleaning and deduplication.
Donetsk region in the south, and Sumy and Chernihiv regions in the north have also become hotspots under the new offensives on Ukraine; Voluntary evacuation is taking place in a few towns in Sumy.