Olga, 47, her son Nikita, 16, and their dog Princess, pose for a portrait in their home in Borodyanka, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. © UNHCR/Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi
Olga remembers the moment that war came to her neighbourhood.
“We were at home, and suddenly there was a deafening sound followed by an explosive wave,” she recalls. “Immediately the windows in our kitchen shattered.”
“Nobody understood what was happening – only constant explosions and everything was burning. It was horrible experiencing air raids and missile strikes every morning. It was impossible to sleep because of the constant fear.”
Olga and Nikita, her teenage son, were forced to flee their damaged house in Borodyanka, a city located 60 kilometres from Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.
Nikita, or ‘Nik’, 16, does his homework in his home in Borodyanka, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. © UNHCR/Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi
Nikita, or ‘Nik’, 16, sits in his home in Borodyanka, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. © UNHCR/Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi
They managed to find safety in a village about 10 kilometres from their hometown, where friends welcomed them. However, war soon enveloped that area as well, cutting off access to electricity and fuel. On 10 March, Olga and Nikita had to flee once again, this time alongside their friends, traveling 500 kilometres west to Ukraine’s Lviv region.
For three weeks – while the area around Borodyanka and Kyiv were under constant bombardment – Olga and Nikita took refuge in Lviv. They didn’t know the fate of their town or the house where Olga had lived for more than 40 years.
On 25 April, Olga returned to Borodyanka and was horrified by what she found.
Olga, 47, and her son Nikita, 16, gather laundry hung to dry in the backyard of their home in Borodyanka, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. © UNHCR/Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi
Olga, 47, and her son Nikita, 16, prepare lunch in their home in Borodyanka, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. © UNHCR/Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi
“It was such a shock for us. All the windows and the roof were broken,” she describes. “Everything was stolen. There was a bullet-hole in the TV.”
Olga stood in the wreckage of the house where she had lived for almost her entire life and wondered what to do next. Despite the damage, she still saw the home she loved – where she had lived as a child and then raised her own children.
But the destruction was so extensive – and the trauma so fresh – that Olga struggled to find a way forward.
“I used to always rely on myself. I’m used to doing it myself,” she explains. “Unfortunately, now no longer. I knew that I didn’t have these funds.”
In 2022, UNHCR and its partners began repairing houses of people in Ukraine affected by the war who had never left or who, like Olga and Nikita, had returned to their homes. UNHCR staff visited Olga in Borodyanka and discussed how to help make her house livable again.
“UNHCR found me,” she remembers. “If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to repair the windows or the roof.”
So far, UNHCR has repaired 15,444 houses through its housing repair programme helping more than 46,000 people have secure and dignified living conditions. In 2022, UNHCR assisted 4.32 million people with legal aid and psychosocial support, emergency shelter and housing repairs, cash assistance and essential items. Since the start of 2023, UNHCR has helped more than 1.67 million displaced and war-affected people with various forms of assistance. This aid is made possible because of the compassion and generosity of UNHCR’s donors, such as EU Humanitarian Aid.
“I say ‘thanks’ to such caring people, not only in our country, but in the world,” Olga says. “Some good, good things are being done.”
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