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Gallery|Human Rights

Ukraine: World’s unseen refugee crisis

More than two million people are now refugees or internally displaced due to war but their plight is little reported.

Ukraine IDPs/ DO NOT USE/ RESTRICTED
Oksana Korchma, 45 is a foster carer. She takes care of 10 children, out of which seven are adopted. On July 2, 2014, three days before the city of Slavyansk was recaptured, her house was burned. "We were in the basement, hiding from shelling and we did not understand that the house was burning. It is a miracle that we are alive!" said Korchma. [Ioana Moldovan/Al Jazeera]
By Ioana Moldovan
Published On 24 Jul 201524 Jul 2015
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“All our belongings were destroyed. We don’t have bed linen, we don’t have a fork, we don’t have a spoon”.

Natalya Beskorovana’s words condense the everyday reality of the majority of Ukrainian refugees or internally displaced (IDPs) hard hit by the conflict in the country.

While the fighting in Ukraine is placed in a sort of quarantine in the East, life in other parts of the country is moving along almost undisturbed.

Peace and war are enjoying a more than strange cohabitation, so the true impact of the conflict is far from obvious.

At the end of June 2015, one year after the fighting started, there were more than 1.35 million internally displaced people in Ukraine, ranking the country ninth worldwide in terms of IDPs.

There are also more than 900,000 refugees in neighbouring countries and the estimated number of people in need of humanitarian aid is now five million. People face shortages in food, health services, shelter and medicines, which are in worryingly low supply In Ukraine.

In order to receive IDP status, and thus be eligible for some benefits from the state and humanitarian organisations, people need to register with the Ukrainian social protection department.

The process is lengthy and faces many challenges, like short distance displacement where people move from their destroyed home, but because they do not leave to a different administrative area than the one specified on their ID, cannot become IDPs.

Another is when the conflict moves: there are areas around the frontline which the government does not recognise as territories under rebel control and therefore does not include in the official decree stating the towns where IDPs are originating from.

As a result, people fleeing from these areas cannot receive the status and benefits. This is also the case for students and unaccompanied minors, who cannot register without the presence of their legal guardian.

“Of course we need more help; we hope for displacement benefits as now we are really in need,” says 32- year-old Oksana while waiting in line for humanitarian aid at the UNHCR distribution centre in Kramatorsk.

“As for money for the children, we have applied to the court to admit Maxym, her three-month-old boy, as a citizen of Ukraine, as he was not born on Ukrainian territory.”

Oksana gave birth to her child in her home town of Kirovske, in Donetsk Oblast, just before fleeing the city. She found out she was pregnant when she felt sick the first time they had to hide in the basement because of the shelling.

‘Bright blue sky’

Many Ukrainians decide not to leave for safer places because they have a job, which is their only possibility to have some income. As a result, some stay but send away their wives and children.

And those who do leave, families that have often lost everything, find themselves in unknown places and in a dreadful limbo, constantly thinking whether to start a new life from scratch, or to wait for the chance to return back home.

“I want to go back,” says Julia Lomakina, a 39-year-old IDP from Donetsk. “But the only case in which I could go back to Donetsk after the war is over is if it is still Ukrainian territory. In that case, yes, I will return home.”

Many of those displaced feel that the Donetsk and Lugansk regions should continue to be part of Ukraine.

But for other people, the fighting has gone for so long that they end up saying that it’s not that important anymore.

“Of course we want to stay in Ukraine. We were, are and want to be Ukrainians,” says elderly Galea from Avdiivka, who lost her husband after his health deteriorated due to the shelling.

“But we just want peace and if it will be different, it does not matter, because we just want to have bright blue sky and no shelling. I want to go back home, not to Russia, but home.” 

Ukraine IDPs/ DO NOT USE/ RESTRICTED
Most people in Ukraine cannot afford to renovate their homes which have been destroyed by the war. The few who can are afraid to renovate them by themselves, fearing they will get no more compensation from the state. [Ioana Moldovan/Al Jazeera]
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Ukraine IDPs/ DO NOT USE/ RESTRICTED
Olga Ovsyanykova, 44, and her daughter Tanya, in their two-room apartment in the Saint Mountains collective centre for IDPs in Svyatohirsk. They left their home in the Donetsk airport area, where electricity and water had been cut, and looked for safety in Syedove and then Novoazovsk, before coming to the centre. [Ioana Moldovan/Al Jazeera]
Ukraine IDPs/ DO NOT USE/ RESTRICTED
Ukrainian woman in a basement next to the Red Cross in Slavyansk, selling second-hand goods. [Ioana Moldovan/Al Jazeera]
Ukraine IDPs/ DO NOT USE/ RESTRICTED
A Ukrainian teenager next to his family's burned house and car. "We walked on foot in the field, but the field was mined so it was very dangerous. I was in my nightgown and I was holding our dog in my arms," said his mother, recalling the night their home was shelled. [Ioana Moldovan/Al Jazeera]
Ukraine IDPs/ DO NOT USE/ RESTRICTED
Vladimir Huhtin, 77, had lived more than 30 years in Svitlodarsk, Dontesk Oblast, before his apartment was damaged by shelling. "I receive a pension, but I have to go to Artemivsk (30km away) or other cities to withdraw the money. Here there is not enough cash and many of the banks and ATMs don't work," said Vladimir. [Ioana Moldovan/Al Jazeera]
Ukraine IDPs/ DO NOT USE/ RESTRICTED
Marina and Oleksandr, with their three children, have just received humanitarian aid at the UNHCR distribution centre in Kramatorsk. People can receive humanitarian aid only if they are registered as IDPs with the Ukrainian Social Protection Department. [Ioana Moldovan/Al Jazeera]
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Ukraine IDPs/ DO NOT USE/ RESTRICTED
Artem, 16, in his small hometown of Semenivka. Most of the town, including the local hospital, was destroyed as a result of rebels being pushed back. Artem is a volunteer in a youth organisation that also supports the Ukrainian army with aid. He wants to study for higher education and take up an appropriate job. [Ioana Moldovan/Al Jazeera]
Ukraine IDPs/ DO NOT USE/ RESTRICTED
Tatyana Latvhitis' apartment in Svitlodarsk was hit by shelling on the afternoon of January 27. Now the family live in a temporary rented room in the city. Latvhitis works in the local hospital, but she says she has not received her salary since January. Their only source of income is her husband's salary. [Ioana Moldovan/Al Jazeera]
Ukraine IDPs/ DO NOT USE/ RESTRICTED
Viktor, 49, left his house in Semenivka, Donetsk Oblast, when heavy fighting started. When he came back, the house was ruined. "The situation was quite good under the rebels. There was order and they only asked for some clothes," said Viktor. [Ioana Moldovan/Al Jazeera]
Ukraine IDPs/ DO NOT USE/ RESTRICTED
What remains of Viktor's house in Semenivka. The rebels, who occupied the town for two months, dug their trenches only about 200m away from his house. With the Ukrainian army positions 2km away, his house was directly in the line of fire. [Ioana Moldovan/Al Jazeera]
Ukraine IDPs/ DO NOT USE/ RESTRICTED
A Ukrainian IDP watches TV in a collective centre in Sviatohirsk. About 150-200 people now live in the centre. Alexandr Dzyuba, the mayor of Sviatohirsk, said the centres are funded by NGOs and volunteer organisations, with close to no contribution from the local budget. [Ioana Moldovan/Al Jazeera]
Ukraine IDPs/ DO NOT USE/ RESTRICTED
Sviatohirsk, Donetsk Oblast, is a resort town with about 5,000 inhabitants and 10,000 IDPs, its mayor says. The unemployment rate is very high as there is no infrastructure or production facilities. Local people’s attitudes towards IDPs are generally positive. "For me is ok; I feel sorry for those people, they left their homes and the situation is unusual and very difficult for them," said Valentyna, 25, who works in a food store. [Ioana Moldovan/Al Jazeera]


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