Low-income families and IDP families will receive financial assistance for the purchase of warm clothes, shoes and other items for children – the Government is supplementing the comprehensive Winter Support package for Ukrainian families with new programmes and initiatives. This was announced by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on 26 November.

He emphasised that protecting Ukrainian children and creating comfortable and favourable conditions for their life, education and development was a priority for the Government.

That is why the children’s component of the Winter Support includes a number of items, the first of which is the Warm Winter programme: a one-off financial assistance for children to get through the winter.

“In December, every low-income family and IDP families with children or adults with Group I disabilities will receive UAH 6,500 for each child. This money will be used to buy warm clothes, shoes and other winter necessities for children. Today we are adopting a resolution to launch this programme,” said Denys Shmyhal.

In addition, according to the Prime Minister, on St. Nicholas Day, orphans and children deprived of parental care who are raised in families with guardians or caretakers will receive an additional UAH 1,000 for each child. The financial resources for this programme are provided by UNICEF.

At its meeting, the Government also decided to reform the system of care and support for children in Ukraine. Thus, the Strategy for Ensuring the Right of Every Child to Grow Up in a Family Environment and an action plan for its implementation were approved.

“The main objectives of the Strategy are to provide comprehensive support to biological families so that children do not end up in care facilities. This includes inclusive education, quality healthcare, effective social services, community support, and much more. This is the transformation of institutional care facilities. They must work to ensure that every child finds his or her family as soon as possible,” the Prime Minister said, adding that the Strategy was designed to last until 2028, and its implementation by the responsible ministries and agencies is starting now.

According to the Head of Government, another item of the Winter Support for children is the implementation of the eMaliatko programme. The Cabinet of Ministers has simplified the procedure for issuing state birth registration documents in case of ordering a service for their delivery to the applicant’s place of residence. In 2024, about 36,000 families have already received baby boxes, and the state has transferred the cost of the “baby package” to 126,000 families in the amount of UAH 974 million.

The reform of school meals is the fifth item of the Winter Support for children. According to Denys Shmyhal, this school year the state has provided free hot meals for all primary school students. For this purpose, UAH 2 billion was allocated to communities, and today a decision has been made to reallocate more than UAH 268 million.

Denys Shmyhal also noted that next year the state budget provides UAH 2.9 billion for school meals and another UAH 960 million for the modernisation of canteens.