UNHCR’s NGO partners Rokada and NEEKA were among the first responders at the site of the Russian missile attack in a residential quarter in Lviv on 6 July. @Rokada
“I live about 5 kilometres away from where the missiles hit but the sound of the explosion was so loud that I immediately thought the scale of destruction might be immense,” recalls Andrii Rudyk who provides legal assistance at UNHCR’s NGO partner NEEKA office in Lviv.
Around 3 am on 6 July, Lviv – a city located more than one thousand kilometres from the frontline and hosting over 100,000 people who fled the war from the worst-affected areas woke up to the deafening explosions in the central area. A few hours later, Andrii and his ten colleagues were on the ground to provide assistance to those who lost their homes and were expecting news about their loved ones still blocked under the rubble. “People were in shock; some did not even remember how it had happened. In coordination with UNHCR, we gave drinking water, blankets, sleeping bags, solar lamps, hygiene items, as well as power stations to charge phones to the affected residents who were staying outside for many hours while the emergency services continued their work of searching for survivors and clearing rubble,” Andrii explains.
As a result of the biggest missile attack in Lviv since the start of the Russian invasion, 10 civilians died and about 50 were injured. The blast wave damaged 250 apartments, 30 houses, the premises of the local university and student dormitories, a nursing school and a child centre. According to the authorities’ estimate, over 1,000 families need assistance to repair damages sustained in the missile attack in the city’s quarter that belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage sites.
“People were saving their pets and trying to recover family photo albums”
“The rescue operation lasted over 24 hours. All this time our psychologists stayed at the site trying to comfort people anxiously waiting for the news. They were working in shifts and supported people in the most difficult moments when some had to identify their lost family members. We also tried to take care of children staying there with their grieving parents and set up an outdoor space for them to play and distract them from the tragedy that was unfolding,” Nataliia Hurgiy, the head of the Rokada Charity Fund UNHCR’s NGO partner, told. “People were exhausted and needed first aid. Some could not wait until emergency services completed the work and were trying to get inside the destroyed buildings to save their pets and photo albums carrying precious memories. Our psychologists were there to support and ease people’s pain.”
In addition to critically needed psychosocial assistance, Rokada also provided clothes and emergency shelter materials, such as film, tarpaulin, clipboards and wood to cover damaged windows and roofs.
Planned response
While the authorities and humanitarian actors assess the damage and required support, about 40 people whose houses are irreparable found temporary shelter in Lviv.
In coordination with local and regional authorities, UNHCR and its partners are helping to accommodate people in other collective sites across the region and ensuring that families have materials to fix their damaged homes. With its local NGO partner Rokada, UNHCR has already delivered repair materials to residents in two villages in Lvivska oblast that were affected by another air strike on the same night.
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