UN and EU Rebuild Ukraine's Frontline Life, One Person at a Time
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- UNOPS, with EU funding, rebuilt a frontline school in Bezruky in Kharkiv region that took a direct hit and shut its doors early in the war; more than 15,000 children in the region are now back in classrooms because of the project.
- UNESCO, funded by the Global Partnership for Education and Ukraine's education ministry, runs training on the New Ukrainian School reform — teacher Yurii Tkalenko, with 20 years in Cherkasy region classrooms, joined the 2025 cohort.
- UNFPA, working with the EU, backs maternity wards in frontline areas; Anastasiia, displaced from Donetsk, gave birth to twin boys in a protected ward in Kharkiv.
- ILO's Nanny School has certified 80 women to care for children aged zero to three; nearly half found jobs soon after certifying, with the programme built to expand.
- UN Women's She Drives trained Oksana in Kryvyi Rih to drive one of the city's longest bus routes after a career as a cargo clerk: 'If you want to do something, don't be afraid to try.'
- Hanna Makarenkova, hospital director in Zaporizhzhia, has treated more than 25,000 patients since the full-scale invasion, often through bombardment and blackout — UNDP, funded by the EU, installed independent power units to keep her equipment running when the grid fails.
- WHO has trained more than 300 rehabilitation specialists across Ukraine to fit and adjust wheelchairs; nine of them now train others in turn, supporting patients like Oleksandr of Kostiantynivka, who lost both legs and an eye in a drone strike.
Why it matters: EU money is flowing through at least seven UN agencies to keep frontline Ukrainian services alive: 15,000 children back in classrooms in Kharkiv region alone, 25,000+ patients treated at one Zaporizhzhia hospital through bombardment and blackout, and backup generators that keep that hospital running when the grid fails. The piece shows recovery at granular, human scale — a curriculum reform, a nanny certificate, a bus licence, a fitted wheelchair — rather than as abstract reconstruction pledges.
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