Surviving the Freezing Cold Under Fire: How Winter Disrupts Education and Mental Health Support for Ukrainian Children

Children are at the centre of Ukraine’s winter crisis. Across the country, children are enduring extreme cold, prolonged power outages, disrupted education, and rising psychological distress. For displaced children and their families, winter is a multiplying risk that deepens vulnerability and erodes the systems meant to protect them.

This briefing draws on a World Vision rapid survey of displaced households with children in frontline areas of Kharkivska oblast, alongside secondary evidence. Findings from households with children reveal the scale and urgency of the emergency:

• 100% describe this winter as extremely cold — colder than last year.
• 96% report electricity outages; 92% report freezing indoor temperatures.
• 76% lack adequate heating supplies, and 56% do not have sufficient cash to meet basic winter needs.
• 84% identify cash assistance as their most urgent unmet need.
• 72% report receiving less support this winter compared to the previous year.

Nearly three-quarters of households (72%) report that children have no access to education, child protection, or mental health and psychosocial support services this winter. Caregivers describe rising anxiety, distress, and isolation among children, directly linked to cold homes, power outages, disrupted schooling, and ongoing insecurity.

Winter-related funding has shifted from emergency surge to contraction, even as needs intensify. Without immediate, adequate, and predictable support, winter itself becomes a risk multiplier, deepening learning losses, exacerbating psychosocial distress, and weakening the protective systems children rely on.

Winterisation is life-saving and must be treated as a core pillar of the humanitarian response. Donors must fully fund winter support — including flexible cash assistance — and sustain investment in education, child protection, and mental health services across Ukraine.