Every week in Ukraine, families find themselves facing sudden shocks: a missile strike damaging their home, a fire triggered by shelling, or an urgent evacuation ordered from frontline towns. In these moments, people often have only hours, or minutes, to leave everything behind.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Acted has been working to make sure that when such emergencies happen, families can get the help they need within days, not weeks.
With support of the European Union Humanitarian Aid, Acted, and its partner, the Estonian Refugee Council, deliver flexible life-saving multi-purpose cash assistance to civilians directly impacted by the war. This modality enables households to cover urgent expenses, whether repairing damaged homes, buying food, Non-Food Items (NFIs), or medical care or coping with urgent needs arising from evacuation. Registrations are completed rapidly, and transfers are delivered within days, helping people navigate the immediate aftermath of displacement or destruction.
Nataliia’s story – facing forced displacement
Nataliia* is from Prosiana, in Dnipropetrovska region, eastern Ukraine. Due to the escalation of war in her region in recent months, Nataliia was forced to leave her home and evacuate with her relatives, including two family members with disabilities. Upon arriving at the Voloske Transit Center on August 30, she registered with Acted to receive rapid multi-purpose cash assistance. She and her family stayed at the center few days before being able to travel to a safer region in western Ukraine.
With the multi-purpose cash assistance, Natalia plans to cover her family’s basic needs in their new place, such as food, hygiene items, and essential medicines.
In August-September 2025, as a response to the massive rocket attack on July 31, Acted conducted several on-site registrations for the rapid MPCA program in Kyiv (Solomianskyi and Holosiivskyi districts). This immediate support enables affected people to cover their basic and unexpected needs, such as repairing damaged apartments, buying food or medicine, or paying rent during the first critical weeks after an incident.
Oleh*, a lifelong resident of Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi district, recalls the shock of the late July attack. This year has already been challenging for him: in April, he underwent heart surgery, during which three stents were placed, and he remains under constant medical treatment. With the assistance received, he plans to renovate the windows in his apartment.
Olena*, also from Holosiivskyi district, shares a similar story of hardship.
Together with my husband and 12-year-old son, we faced repeated displacements at the beginning of the war, first moving to Fastiv and later returning to Kyiv. During all of 2022 we went to the shelter after every announced air alarm, because we lived in another district of the city. Today, we have no specialized shelter, only a basement, and continue to experience stress and anxiety during new alarms.
Olena intends to use the support to install windows and repair walls in her apartment. She has also been referred for MHPSS assistance to help her and her family cope with ongoing stress and trauma.
Since early 2025, Acted’s rapid cash response has supported more than 4,200 vulnerable individuals across Ukraine, helping them manage the hardest days after displacement or destruction. From frontline towns to Kyiv registration centers, families can rely on fast and flexible support that arrives within days. Looking ahead, Acted will continue to expand this lifeline so that, wherever the next emergency strikes, affected households can count on immediate multi-purpose humanitarian cash assistance to help to meet their most urgent needs and take the first steps toward recovery with dignity.
*Names have been changed to protect the beneficiaries’ identities.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, or the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.