Estonia is allocating more than €400,000, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ strategic humanitarian partners, to help Ukrainian people living without electricity and hot water to survive the coldest winter in 16 years. The support will be used to establish crisis centres, equip evacuation and transit centres, and set up winter emergency assistance points at a time when Russia continues its attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and has by now bombed all of Ukraine’s power plants.
“Temperatures in Ukraine are falling to minus 20 degrees and below. As Estonians, we know what such cold means, and we must help Ukrainians get through the freezing weather without a warm room and without water,” Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said. “Our support is being channelled through our strategic humanitarian partners – Estonian NGOs – directly to ordinary people: small children, the elderly, and citizens in need of special care, whose homes have had neither water nor heating for weeks in the freezing cold, and where the temperature indoors is the same as outside. Thousands of people have had to leave their homes,” he said. “Putin is using cold and darkness as a weapon against the people of Ukraine, and we must not allow it to change the course of the war. Ukrainians are brave, but bravery alone does not win a war.”
Estonia is supporting NGO Mondo with €121,980 to establish three mobile crisis centres in residential districts of Kyiv in areas where power cuts are prolonged or very frequent. The crisis centres will allow residents of apartment buildings to stay warm around the clock, charge small devices, access drinking water and the internet, and receive a hot drink and light food. Each crisis centre is expected to support around 120 people per day, approximately half of whom are minors and one fifth elderly. Mondo is also currently running a donation campaign, “Keeping Ukraine Warm!”, which has raised more than €3,000 for Ukrainians.
NGO Estonian Refugee Council will receive €150,000 to support evacuation and transit centres with generators and fuel reserves. The Refugee Council is running a public fundraising campaign and, as of 30 January, has already raised €30,000. Procurement of generators in Ukraine is underway, and with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the plan is to purchase generators together with a seven-day fuel supply. Where possible, high-capacity power banks will also be procured.
€136,122 will be allocated to the Estonian Rescue Board Association to procure equipment for four winter emergency assistance points for rescuers of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU). The mobile assistance points for civilians will enable people to charge electronic devices, warm up, and, if needed, receive psychological support.
The foreign minister stressed that supporting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and the population’s resilience is of critical importance. “Every generator, every repaired cable and every euro donated sends Putin a clear message: Ukraine will not break,” Tsahkna said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared a state of emergency in Ukraine’s energy sector in January 2026.
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