UN World Food Programme helps feed over 150,000 Ukrainian school children with hot meals
The Ukrainian government has approved a resolution allocating 2.2 million hryvnias in aid from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) for the nutrition of primary school students in April and May of 2025, as announced by the Ministry of Education and Science.
Children eating in an underground school in Kharkiv. Photo: Sayed Asif Mahmud, WFPThe program operates in over 670 educational institutions across the Kyiv, Lviv, Zakarpattia, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyy, Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, Cherkasy, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy, and Vinnytsia regions.
The regions were selected based on several criteria, including the number of internally displaced families and the level of food security.
The UN funds 30% of the cost of daily hot meals.
The allocation of over 2.2 million hryvnias is the third and final for this academic year. The government is currently working on an agreement for the next academic year. In total, the UN has allocated 151.4 million hryvnias over the past year for the meals of over 150,000 students.
It is noted that this year, almost one in three Ukrainians requires humanitarian assistance.
At the same time, UN agencies are reducing the volume of support for Ukrainians due to a lack of funding, although humanitarian needs are only increasing.
