The Transparent Cities program has once again assessed how city councils handle humanitarian aid. The findings show that only 3 out of 50 cities publish all the required information on humanitarian assistance — Mykolaiv, Chernivtsi, and Shostka.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion and as of February 2025, more than €257 billion has entered Ukraine, of which 7% (€19 billion) constitutes humanitarian aid. City councils receive one of the largest shares of this assistance. Therefore, transparent reporting on its receipt and distribution is crucial to maintaining trust among local communities and donors.

The program first assessed how city councils work with humanitarian aid six months ago. The results were discouraging — most of the surveyed cities did not publish the required information. At the time, program experts developed recommendations and emphasized the importance of disclosing information about the aid received and distributed by cities. During the follow-up assessment, the key objective was to determine whether city councils had taken these recommendations into account and improved public communication on this critical issue. 

This time, in addition to reports on the types and volumes of humanitarian aid received, distribution criteria, and lists of recipients, the program’s experts also assessed one additional indicator — the implementation of the “single entry point” principle, which means the creation of thematic sections or pages that provide convenient access to essential information. The results of this pilot assessment of openness and public engagement revealed an unpleasant reality — only 3 out of 11 regional centers have created logical and structured pages dedicated to humanitarian aid. 

How do 50 cities inform the public about humanitarian aid?

To assess how fragmented city councils’ work with humanitarian aid actually is, analysts reviewed 50 of Ukraine’s largest cities. The results confirmed previous conclusions. In 20 cities, not a single requested category of information has been disclosed: these communities have not created separate thematic pages or sections, published no reports (annual, quarterly, or semi-annual), provided no distribution procedures or even a description of general principles, and posted no lists of aid recipients among institutions subordinated to the city. Among these cities are six regional centers — Ivano-Frankivsk, Poltava, Uzhhorod, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, and Cherkasy. 

HOW CITIES INFORM ABOUT HUMANITARIAN AID

🔴 All 4 elements are missing; 🟡 A separate unified section/page exists, but not all elements are posted; 🟢 All 4 elements are available

Other cities mostly ensured the presence of selected elements only. Twelve cities published annual reports on the humanitarian aid received and distributed in 2024, while Odesa recently published a report on humanitarian assistance provided through Municipal Humanitarian Centers for the entire period of martial law — from March 2022 to October 2025, presenting the indicators dynamically, including for 2025. Several cities disclose interim reports — quarterly or monthly (for example, Zhytomyr published an extended report on humanitarian aid for the first half of 2025). In 31 communities, no public report has been provided for any reporting period. 

On the websites of 15 out of 50 cities, at least some information on distribution criteria or principles has been disclosed. Boryspil, Kalush, Mykolaiv, and Chernivtsi have adopted separate Distribution Procedures (in Chernivtsi, the procedure applies only to food packages and hygiene products for IDPs). In 35 cities, there is a complete absence of information on how recipients are prioritized and what procedure must be followed to receive aid.

The situation with lists of recipients among entities subordinated to city councils is similar: in 36 cities, such lists have not been disclosed. Eleven cities provided this data in a proper format, including USREOU codes. Vinnytsia can be considered a good implementation example, where the list of recipients includes USREOU codes and registry numbers in the register of humanitarian aid recipients. 

Special attention should be paid to thematic “single entry points” dedicated to humanitarian aid. Of the 50 cities, 18 have created a separate section, but only three have fully populated it with all required elements. The regional centers of Mykolaiv and Chernivtsi created such sections on their official websites (Mykolaiv operates a separate resource linked via its main website’s “single entry point”*) and published all information requested by analysts. An equally successful result was demonstrated by Shostka, a mid-sized city located in an area of potential hostilities. Its “Humanitarian Aid” section contains detailed information on how to obtain assistance, priority recipient groups, reports on received aid, and more.

The remaining 15 city councils that have already created thematic sections still need to fully populate them with all essential information. For example, the websites of Sumy and Stryi city councils feature standalone “Humanitarian Aid” sections placed in logical locations — within the “For Residents” / “For the Public” main menu sections. Stryi has already posted, among other things, information on aid held on the executive committee’s balance sheet as of July 2025, while Sumy provides information on charitable, volunteer, and civic organizations, as well as municipal departments and institutions that deliver humanitarian assistance. These cities should expand the information available in these sections and update it systematically. 

Conclusions and recommendations

The Transparent Cities program has repeatedly emphasized that the level of public communication by city councils on humanitarian aid still does not meet expectations for a country at full-scale war. The results of this study, together with the findings of the first block of the European City Index, demonstrate slow progress on indicators that analysts have been highlighting for a long time.

In this context, we once again remind of the key recommendations for increasing transparency in the humanitarian aid sector:

• Establish a tracking process for received aid: Appoint or create a responsible body to assess and document information about the type, quantity, value, condition, shelf life, storage requirements, donor name, and intended use of each aid item. 
• Define and disclose transparent principles and criteria for humanitarian aid distribution, formalizing them in a relevant regulatory document — for example, a Humanitarian Aid Procedure. If a formal procedure is not yet in place, publish at least the criteria as an article or notice on the city council’s website.
• Publish a list of humanitarian aid recipients among structural units, municipal enterprises, institutions, and organizations subordinated to the city council. This list must include full institution names and their USREOU codes. Check whether the entries in the Automated Humanitarian Aid Registration System match those in your published list, including address, USREOU code, aid received, etc.
• Oblige the responsible body to report at least once a year, in a generalized textual format, on the types and volumes of humanitarian aid received.
• Create a permanent unified humanitarian aid section/page within the structure of the official website (preferably in the main menu). This separate section should consolidate and continuously update all available reference information on humanitarian aid and provide correct links to internal and external documents/resources. Remove pages on individual aspects of aid management that are not integrated into the logical structure of the website.

We also remind that the public can influence local authorities by submitting requests for public information to city councils or by formally demanding the disclosure of reports on distributed aid through official communication channels. In addition, the period when mayors traditionally report on the annual work of local self-government bodies is approaching. This may be a good opportunity to make it clear to public officials that communities consider it important to know how local authorities handle the humanitarian aid they receive.