©UNHCR/Alina Kovalenko
“After 30 years of dedicated service at a coal mine, I was awarded the title of Honored Miner and retired. But now I’m a nobody, an empty space, a homeless person. We have lost everything,” says 73-year-old Ievhen, who, together with his 70-year-old wife Raisa, was forced to flee war-torn Toretsk in Donetska Oblast, leaving behind their peaceful life and their home, in May 2023.
Even before the Russian full-scale invasion, the town of Toretsk has been at the frontline during the eight-year-long conflict in eastern Ukraine, which escalated into a war in February 2022. Since then, it has come under heavy shelling almost daily. This prompted the majority of the population, including Ievhen and Raisa, to make the decision to leave or to stay in underground shelters for weeks. Currently, Toretsk is less than 20 kilometres from the frontline, and frequent shelling has become a new reality.
Initially, Raisa and Ievhen stayed in their apartment as long as they could, until there was no one left in the nine-story building.
“Heavy shelling started, and we dropped to the floor every time a bomb hit the ground. We ran to the basement as well. This could last for half an hour, an hour or two. It often seemed that everything would collapse. There was no electricity, water, gas, nothing,” Ievhen recalls. The family’s apartment is located on the 6th floor in the city centre. Their windows have already been broken back in 2015. And once again – in 2022, making it impossible to live there through the winter.
Photo: ©Proliska
Photo: ©Proliska
Photo: ©Proliska
Photo: ©Proliska
For some time, the couple lived at their daughter’s house, where they had a stove that gave the family the warmth they needed, and they survived the difficult winter of 2022-2023, with freezing temperatures and frequent power shortages due to attacks on the energy infrastructure.
They returned to their home in the spring, hoping that the situation would improve. But things only got worse. They still had to run to the basement every time the town was shelled or bombed. It was a particular challenge for Ievhen, who lost his eyesight in 2014, and couldn’t move on his own. Because the elevator wasn’t working, the couple had to use the stairs, supporting each other and trying not to fall.
Doing basic things became difficult: they had to stand in a long queue for water, sometimes for two hours, sometimes in the cold, then drag the container up to the sixth floor to be able to do laundry, clean or cook.
At the end of May 2023, Raisa and Ievhen decided to move to a safer place and, taking only a few clothes and documents, went to stay with friends in Velyka Bahachka in Poltava oblast. Whilst there, the couple met with UNHCR’s local partner Proliska and received social support and legal assistance for Ievhen to help him to obtain a document to certify his type of disability. This was a task he was unable to do since losing his sight in 2014.
©UNHCR/Alina Kovalenko
“Social support is very important for vulnerable people when they come to a new, unfamiliar city. Even for a healthy person it can be difficult to travel from the suburban areas to the city centre to find the institutions and medical facilities. For a person with a disability, it is impossible. We are very grateful that there are people who step up to assist in this difficult situation. For example, an ophthalmologist comes from Myrhorod to Poltava twice a week and helps with diagnoses,” said Oleksandr Pylypenko, social support specialist at the Proliska Humanitarian Centre in Poltava Oblast.
Proliska also provided Ievhen and Raisa with essential items, such as hygiene kits, mattresses, blankets, pillows, kitchen items, and helped them to register in UNHCR’s multipurpose cash assistance programme.
“We are so grateful that we met such a professional team from Proliska who responded immediately and supported us during this difficult process. There were times when we were about to give up, and Oleksandr calmed us down, cheered us up and we persevered. Now that Ievhen has his documents, this huge burden has fallen from our shoulders”, said Raisa.
Thanks to the staunch support of our donors, like Italy, around 450,000 people have received legal consultations from UNHCR and its NGO partners since the beginning of 2023.
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