The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has launched its annual winter fundraising appeal, warning that at least 9 million people across Ukraine, Syria, Lebanon, and Afghanistan urgently need additional assistance to survive the coming months, according to a press release issued on 30 October 2026. Facing funding shortfalls and surging energy prices, the agency aims to raise at least $50 million for winter support in 2026-27. That figure represents $3 million more than it secured last year through its appeal targeting individuals and the private sector. The campaign responds to deepening budget declines amid worsening humanitarian conditions. Millions in these fragile contexts risk facing the cold without adequate protection.
Winter needs span all four operations, with households contending with recent spikes in energy and food prices, makeshift shelters, and insufficient fuel for heating and cooking. Many families also lack adequate clothing and blankets, further straining already stretched budgets. Even before winter, displaced people and their hosts had been hit by cuts to cash assistance, health care, education, and livelihoods. Funds raised will purchase heaters in Afghanistan, thermal blankets in Syria and Lebanon, and kits to repair bombed houses in Ukraine. The appeal aggregates UNHCR estimates for Lebanon and Syria with inter-agency figures for Afghanistan and Ukraine.
Ukraine faces its fifth winter of full-scale war, with temperatures risking plunges to -20°C amid intensifying strikes on civilians. Around 4 million people remain internally displaced, and last winter energy facilities were hit at least 423 times. UNHCR’s winter plan includes cash for around 310,000 people and better-insulated homes for 80,000. Monitoring found that 75 percent of people leaving Ukraine between December 2025 and February 2026 cited a lack of electricity, water, or heating. In Syria, 2.4 million people will need winter assistance in priority areas, though UNHCR hopes to reach only around 230,000, less than half of last winter.
In Afghanistan, close to 4 million people returned from Pakistan and Iran between January 2025 and July 2026, many with limited means to rebuild. UN data indicates 4.2 million people will require shelter support in 2026, while nearly a third of assessed households reported insufficient winter clothing. In Lebanon, almost 300,000 people are expected to need winter assistance, but funding constraints allow UNHCR to reach only half of them. Diesel prices have nearly doubled since before the March 2026 regional escalation.
“Families are making difficult choices between heating, food and health care. Last winter, many burned cardboard, paper or plastic waste to stay warm because coal and firewood were unaffordable,” said Dominique Hyde, Director of External Relations at UNHCR.
Hyde emphasized that children remain especially vulnerable, with fears of renewed cases of pneumonia and respiratory illnesses this season.
“Resources are scarce and costs are spiralling just as winter looms in the Northern Hemisphere,” she said.
She added that millions in war-affected countries need public support as never before and require immediate protection. A $35 donation can provide a traditional Bukhari heating device to an Afghan family, while $135 can supply a thermal kit in Ukraine. UNHCR urges donors to act swiftly as temperatures fall and resources dwindle.