International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine has affected the lives of millions of people, driving 10 million out of their homes, and creating unprecedented humanitarian needs inside the country. To date, 14.6 million people need urgent humanitarian assistance.

The IRC has been present in Ukraine since February 2022, working hand in hand with local partners to provide vital support to conflict-affected people to help them survive, recover and regain control of their future.

Who are we?

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is an international humanitarian organisation founded on Albert Einstein's call in 1933. The IRC's mission is to help people whose lives and livelihoods have been destroyed by conflict or natural disasters to survive, recover, and take control of their future. The IRC is currently working in more than 50 crisis-affected countries. The IRC has been working in Europe since 2015, when it responded to the migration humanitarian crisis in Greece.

The IRC has been working in Ukraine since February 2022. Together with Ukrainian partners, we strive to best serve people affected by the war. The IRC works in Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Kherson, Zaporizhia, and Donetsk regions, supporting communities in both major cities and hard-to-reach rural areas closer to frontlines.

Together with our local partners, we distribute essential basic items, provide cash assistance to families in need, and ensure that children, vulnerable groups and people with special needs are protected. Our health activities include the provision of basic medical help to people in remote locations, the provision of psychological and mental health assistance and the rehabilitation and resupply of local hospitals and health facilities.

The IRC is continuing its efforts in Europe and the US to match the growing scale of needs. We have emergency programmes in Poland, and are also supporting Ukrainian refugees in Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Greece, and the UK.

What does the IRC do in Ukraine?

Cash assistance

Cash is an effective emergency aid for Ukrainians to meet their basic needs with dignity and choice. The IRC is focusing on financially supporting people in the southern and eastern regions. In particular, most recently, people from Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Dnipro regions have received financial assistance. Learn more about the IRC's cash assistance programme.

Basic needs

The IRC, together with our local partners, provides people with basic hygiene products, dignity kits for women and teenage girls, and psychosocial support kits for children. To help people survive cold winter months without heating and electricity, the IRC together with our partners has distributed power banks, blankets, sleeping bags and winter clothes. We have also installed solid-fuel stoves in remote areas and insulated homes damaged by fighting with wooden boards. Our winter response has focused in the eastern and southeastern regions, where due to constant shelling and extensive destruction, money transfers were suspended, ATMs often lacked cash, and shops remained empty or closed.

Healthcare

The IRC provides mobile clinic consultations and distributes essential medicines to people living in remote settlements of the Kharkiv region. Also, our local partners support affected people with medical assistance. Together, our teams help more than 7,000 patients every month, striving to restore access to primary healthcare in the areas heavily affected by hostilities. The IRC also equips medical facilities in the southern and eastern regions with lifesaving medical items, equipment and pharmaceuticals, and one local partner helped restore nine hospitals in the eastern and southeast parts of Ukraine where the fighting is currently the heaviest and where the level of needs is greatest.

Protection monitoring

The IRC’s protection programmes include protection monitoring, case management for children and adults most at risk, psychosocial support services and GBV survivor care, targeting all conflict-affected people – those displaced from their homes, those living close to front lines, and host communities. Together with our local partner Ukrainian Deminers Association we provide the most affected communities with mine risk education sessions. In Safe Healing and Learning Spaces, children learn to be children again. Also, we provide other child protection activities like primarily Psychosocial Support with our partners. Our women’s centre in Dnipro provides displaced women with a sense of community and a space where they can learn new skills. We also offer parenting sessions to displaced families. Our partners focus on individual counselling and gender-based violence prevention sessions. The IRC’s Protection and Rule of Law team provides legal advice and information sessions for people who have lost their documents or who need help accessing services. Free services are provided in person and through a hotline.

Our partners

The IRC collaborates with numerous partners in Ukraine, including local charitable and volunteer organisations. Together, we strive to provide support to the populations in the most severely affected and inaccessible areas. We work with Ukrainian Deminers Association, Right To Protection, Peaceful Sky of Kharkiv, East-SOS, Stellar Ukraine, Martin Club, Green-Landiya, I AM KHERSON, Faith Hope Love, Pomogaem, and Foundation Unity for the Future.

All IRC services are free of charge.

"Our team has touched the lives of over 530,000 clients through psychosocial support sessions, women's centers, and medical check-ups from our mobile units. Over 190,000 individuals in distress have received shelter kits, including materials for household repairs, gas stoves, cylinders, blankets, and essential hygiene items. Additionally, we've facilitated cash assistance for 130,000 clients, empowering them to address pressing needs such as bills, clothing for their children, and other necessities. The needs of Ukrainian communities affected by the full scale invasion remain substantial, and our dedicated teams and partners on the ground continue to provide vital assistance to those living near the frontlines," shared Scott Lea, the IRC's Country Director in Ukraine.