New York - Four years into the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, more than 5,000 women and girls have been killed and 14,000 injured, with 2025 being the deadliest year yet - and the real toll likely far higher. As the war intensifies and energy attacks cripple daily life, a third crisis is tightening its grip on women and girls: collapsing funding for women-led and women's rights organizations, the very lifeline keeping women and girls alive, protected and supported.
As humanitarian needs surge, women's rights and women-led organizations across Ukraine are being driven toward collapse, with deep funding cuts dismantling front-line protection systems and forcing lifesaving services for women and girls to scale back or shut down. A new UN Women report, The Impact of Foreign Assistance Cuts on Women's Rights and Women-Led Organizations in Ukraine, documents the scale of the funding crisis and its impact on the lives of women and girls.
One in three women's rights and women-led organizations surveyed warn they may only survive six months or less with current funding levels. Due to cuts in 2025 and 2026, women-led organizations in Ukraine are projected to lose at least USD 52.9 million by the end of the year. Women's rights and women-led organizations surveyed warn they will be forced to stop life-saving services to at least 63,000 women and girls in need in 2026. Those hit first and hardest are those already most at risk: women and girls in front-line and rural areas, older women, women-headed households, and women and girls with disabilities will be cut off from protection, humanitarian aid, and recovery at a time of escalating danger.
As shown in the report developed by the Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Working Group in Ukraine - co-chaired by UN Women, NGO Girls and CARE Ukraine - the effects of the funding cuts are compounded by a growing nationwide energy crisis and an increase in attacks. While Ukrainian women's organizations continue to deliver on their mandates, their operational capacity, access to populations in need, and the well-being of their staff are severely impacted by energy cuts. This is especially urgent today when millions of Ukrainians are deprived of essential services, including electricity, heating and water.
"Women's organizations in Ukraine are the first to stand with women and girls in crisis - and the force behind sustaining protection, dignity and hope. The current funding cuts are severing their life-saving operations. While UN Women continues to work with and invest in women's organizations in Ukraine, more sustained funding is needed so that they can keep delivering essential services. This is the only way women and girls can have a full and meaningful role in shaping gender-responsive recovery and building a just and lasting peace", said UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous.
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