In Ukraine, winter is not simply a cold season – for people in especially vulnerable situations, it is a matter of survival. The Estonian Refugee Council is launching its winter fundraising campaign to support frontline families in Ukraine with vital heating assistance.

Throughout November and December, the Estonian Refugee Council is collecting donations to help vulnerable families living in frontline and hard-to-reach areas of Eastern and Southern Ukraine make it through the winter. In these towns and villages, people cannot rely on stable infrastructure: electricity and heating can disappear at any moment, there are often no alternatives, and homes already damaged by previous attacks lose heat rapidly.

According to Eero Janson, Director of the Estonian Refugee Council, the current public discussions around a potential peace agreement have not improved the situation or security of people in Ukraine. “Russian attacks continue, and as the recent strike in Ternopil showed, they can be devastating. Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has been widely destroyed: around 60% of electricity-generation capacity has been damaged, while in the hardest-hit regions around 40–60% of heating infrastructure is not functioning at full capacity. In several oblasts, around half of the key power transmission and distribution nodes have been knocked offline or severely degraded by attacks. Power outages are frequent everywhere, and society as a whole is facing deep moral exhaustion,” Janson added.

The Estonian Refugee Council’s support is directed primarily to areas with intensified fighting and damaged infrastructure in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. In these regions, access to essential services is severely disrupted, energy prices are extremely high, and many families are unable to keep their homes warm during the cold months.

The Estonian Refugee Council provides both financial and in-kind assistance to help families cope with rising heating costs and ensure they have enough heating fuel for the entire winter. Supporting one household requires approximately €460 – enough to cover heating fuel or heating expenses for a five-month period.

As Estonians, we know well how harsh a long, cold winter can be. Together, we can offer warmth and support to those enduring their fourth winter of war.

Every donation makes a tangible difference:

• €23 provides heating assistance for one family for one week
• €92 provides heating assistance for one family for one month
• €460 provides heating assistance for one family for the entire winter

Donations can be made on the Estonian Refugee Council website.

The Estonian Refugee Council has been working in Ukraine since 2014, providing humanitarian aid and supporting people affected by the war to restore their economic well-being.