Ukraine now serves free hot school meals to about 3 million children. Since Sept. 1, the program covers every student in grades 1 through 11, in class or in a blended format, Interfax Ukraine reported. It runs while Russian attacks and power outages keep disrupting school days.
At a glance
- Reach: About 3 million children in grades 1 through 11 now get a free hot meal. Earlier in 2026 C.E., the government said over 2 million already did.
- Cost: The government allocated UAH 14.4 billion, about $345 million, for the program in 2026 C.E.
- Gaps: About 2,400 kitchens in eight frontline regions still need upgrades, and 388 institutions have no kitchen at all.
What Ukraine’s program covers
The Cabinet of Ministers announced the expansion in March 2026 C.E. At that point, over 2 million children already got free hot meals. The plan was to reach every pupil from September.
The Cabinet also set aside UAH 1 billion to modernize school food facilities. It said about 9,500 cooks had been trained. It described school nutrition reform as state policy for five years.
The expansion took effect Sept. 1, Interfax Ukraine reported. Students are covered whether they attend in person or learn in a blended format.
The program covers municipal schools. The state pays through subsidies to local budgets, and local funds and international aid fill in the rest, UNITED24 Media reported.
How free hot school meals reach frontline schools
The World Food Programme (WFP) helps in eight frontline regions. It supplied about 40 million school meals to roughly 275,000 children last school year, WFP said. In June, it renewed its partnership with Ukraine’s education ministry for the coming year.
WFP is also putting energy-efficient kitchen equipment into 298 schools. It is giving generator fuel cards to 79 schools. France, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, and the Bestseller Foundation fund that work.
WFP’s Ukraine country director, Richard Ragan, has said schools are havens for children displaced and traumatized by war.
One example is School No. 7 in Romny, in the Sumy region. It serves about 350 lunches a day, UNITED24 Media reported.
Children eat in shelters during air raid alerts. A diesel generator keeps the kitchen running through outages.
Some schools lack kitchens of their own. The Cabinet planned kitchen factories in the Zaporizhzhia, Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Lviv, and Sumy regions. They would prepare thousands of meals a day for local schools, and culinary hubs at vocational schools train the cooks.
What remains unfinished
Large gaps remain. About 2,400 kitchens in the eight frontline regions need modernizing, and 388 institutions have no kitchen. More than 1,000 cooks have begun training, with 220 more expected in October.
Air raids, outages, and attacks on the power grid still disrupt classes and meal service. Ukraine’s education minister told UNITED24 that changing eating habits will take time. He also cited surveys showing over 80% of parents and children are satisfied.
Those survey results come from the ministry, and UNITED24 Media is tied to the Ukrainian government. The coverage reviewed here includes no independent check of meal quality. Whether the program keeps its reach during the war is not yet known.
Read more
For more on this story, see: UNITED24 Media and Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine
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