Useful information for people affected by the international armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine

УКРАЇНСЬКОЮ МОВОЮ  НА РУССКОМ

Despite the difficult security conditions, our teams are working around the clock to help as many people as possible. Please remember all services provided by humanitarian organizations are free of charge.

This page will be updated frequently as the crisis evolves. Latest update: 28 October 2022.

How can I contact the Red Cross?

If you have lost contact with a family member due to the armed conflict in Ukraine, the ICRC's Central Tracing Agency Bureau for the International Armed Conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine can help.

To contact the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from inside Ukraine:

• Main number 0 800 300 155
• Donetsk 0 800 300 185
• Luhansk 0 800 300 195

If you are not in Ukraine and need information, you can call our ICRC hotline at +41 22 730 36 00 or send us an email at ctabureau@icrc.org.

In Ukraine, you can contact the Ukrainian Red Cross Society at 0 800 332 656.

In Russia, you can contact the Russian Red Cross for questions about humanitarian assistance for migrants, legal residence status, and access to medical services. You can call 8 800 234 07 07 or email migration@redcross.ru

How can the ICRC help me?

For the past eight years, we have been providing emergency assistance such as food, water, medicine, and other essential items. We also support hospitals and primary healthcare facilities with medical equipment and emergency preparedness. We repair water stations and support households to rehabilitate their damaged homes. We also help families separated by the armed conflict reconnect.

This is an extremely dangerous time for families caught in the fighting, and a dangerous time for aid organizations too. However, we are doing our best to scale up our work by deploying more staff and supplies to the region.

How can you help me find a family member?

If you lost contact with a family member due to the armed conflict in Ukraine, the ICRC's Central Tracing Agency Bureau for the International Armed Conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine can help. We provide families on all sides of the armed conflict with information about their missing loved ones. This includes military and civilians deprived of their liberty.

You can fill in our online form to begin your tracing request.
• Контактний формуляр (Ukrainian)
• Контактная форма (Russian)
• Contact form (English)

You can also email directly at ctabureau@icrc.org or call +41 22 730 3600 (charges apply according to the tariffs of your operator). In Ukraine, you can call us toll-free at +380 800 300 155. In Russia, you can call us at +7 495 626 54 26 (charges apply).

You can also contact your closest Red Cross Society
• If you are in Hungary: call 1 374 1305 or email tracing@redcross.hu 
• If you are in Poland: call 22 326 12 64, 22 326 12 61 or email tracing.service@pck.pl 
• If you are in Romania: call 21 317 17 18 or email crr@crucearosie.ro 
• For more countries, you can find addresses and contact details on our Family Links website.

Please note that all of our services are free.

Can you help me leave or evacuate someone from Ukraine?

We understand the fear and uncertainty you might be feeling about what the future holds. We hope you can stay safe until the situation improves. Unfortunately, we currently don't have any program or capacity to provide individuals and families with transportation or resources for leaving the country.

Since the escalation of the crisis, we have helped facilitate the safe passage of civilians from Sumy and Mariupol to other locations in Ukraine. On all occasions, people willingly took buses leading them to another Ukrainian location.

We are in constant dialogue with the parties to the armed conflict to facilitate more safe passages for civilians that are voluntary, safe, and based on well-informed consent.

To know when future evacuations might happen, we suggest you keep listening to announcements from your city administration in this regard.

If you are leaving Ukraine, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has the following hotline numbers: 527 (free from mobile phones) and 0 800 505 501 (free from mobile and fixed phones). You can learn more about IOM services here.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) also has information and guidance in neighbouring countries such as Poland, Hungary, Moldova and Romania. You can find more information about UNHCR services here.

In Russia, you can contact the Russian Red Cross for questions about humanitarian assistance for migrants, legal residence status, and access to medical services. You can call 8 800 600 73 72 or email migration@redcross.ru

These are some preventive measures you can take when leaving your home to find shelter elsewhere:

• In a secure and protective bag keep a copy of your national identity card, passport, family certificates, birth certificate, insurance documents, property documents, etc. If possible, keep digital copies as well.

• Help children memorize their personal information such as their full names, parents' names, and parents' contacts. Make sure each child carries this information with them on a piece of paper.

I need mental health support

We are very sorry to know that you are experiencing distress and that it's been difficult to cope with the crisis. For the moment, given the security situation, we are unable to provide mental health support directly.

Our partners of the Ukrainian Red Cross are doing their best to provide psychosocial support. Their hotline is 0 800 333 161. They are currently receiving a large number of calls. Thank you for your patience.

In Russia, the Russian Red Cross has the hotline 8 800 234 07 07.

We can encourage you to follow these prevention recommendations while you get the direct support your need:

• Acknowledge your feelings: Accept the level of distress or uncertainty you and those around you may feel at the moment.
• Be mindful of your news consumption: Being overexposed to news may be repetitively triggering you.
• Find hope in what you can do: There's a lot that you cannot control, but positive action can be an outlet to your feelings. Whether by helping or being kind to others, every act of kindness is significant.
• Reach out for help: Be kind enough to yourself to reach out for professional help if your feelings of worry start to impact your daily life, especially if you felt vulnerable before the crisis.

What can I do if there is fighting?

• If there is fighting and shelling, crawl to safety. Stay in a basement or lower ground. Stay as far as possible from windows.

• Lie down, wrap your arms around your head, and cover your ears.

• Open your mouth to avoid internal injuries, it can reduce the impact of the explosive wave on your body. Wait until the shooting is over before you move to a safer shelter.

• Don't touch unfamiliar objects. Things that may look harmless could potentially be explosive.

• Call 101 to report an explosive hazard.

How can I get medical aid?

The emergency line in Ukraine is 112.

If someone is injured, here is what you can do to assist with first aid while more help arrives:

• Using a clean piece of cloth: Ask the injured person, or proceed yourself, to press directly with the cloth on the wound.
• Swap out physical pressure with a compressive bandage and wrap it around the wound.
• If you notice any of the following signs, loosen the bandage immediately: Any swelling or cyanosis (skin going blue) around the wound. You must loosen the band.
• If blood continues to leak through the bandage: Roll an additional bandage or clean cloth over the first bandage you applied.

Where can I find shelter?

If you are trying to find shelter in Ukraine, State authorities can provide you with information on availability and updates.  Find here more information.

In neighbouring countries such as Belarus, Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, or Russia, our partners of the national Red Cross are preparing to support you.

Volunteers and staff of the Red Cross are providing shelter, basic aid items, and medical supplies. They are also ready to provide first aid and psychosocial support when needed. You can find specific contact information in this directory.

How can I share my opinion about a service the Red Cross provided?

It is very important for us to hear your feedback about the work we are doing. We invite you to use the communication channel more convenient for you to do so.

If you are inside Ukraine, you can call or leave us a message at 0 800 300 155.

From outside Ukraine you can call +41 227 303 600.

You can also send us a private message on our Ukrainian Facebook page.

I think I saw fake news about the Red Cross

We understand that you may feel overwhelmed by all the information you're receiving and that it may be difficult to distinguish facts from false information. When in doubt, we invite you to verify the sources of that information before sharing it with others.

If you saw something in the news that looked suspicious about the services the Red Cross is providing during the current crisis in Ukraine, please tag us in a comment with @ICRC on Twitter.

Learn more in this ICRC article to debunk false information.

Remember that all services provided by humanitarian organisations are free of charge.