: Braving mines and missiles to bring aid to Ukraine’s displaced population #IndiaNEWS #International Six months after the Russian invasion, Ukraine is the scene of the largest humanitarian crisis

Braving mines and missiles to bring aid to Ukraine’s displaced population #IndiaNEWS #International
Six months after the Russian invasion, Ukraine is the scene of the largest humanitarian crisis in Europe since the Second World War. Almost a third of those displaced by the conflict come from the region around the country’s second largest city of Kharkiv, in the east. Helping those in need is dangerous work.

Before dawn on 24 February, Kharkiv took a fierce hit. Within 24 hours, Russian troops had reached the northern suburbs, just 30 kilometres from the Ukraine-Russia border. Despite outnumbering the Ukrainian forces, the invading army was unable to enter the city.

Tania fled Kharkiv after two months of the full-scale war. , by IOMRoman Shalamov

“I am from Kharkiv, from the largest residential area in Ukraine – Saltivka, where about 400,000 people lived before the war,�? says 21-year-old Tania, who has found a temporary home in Ivano-Frankivsk Region and participated in a Summer school run by the UN migration agency (IOM), for young leaders among displaced persons and members of hosted communities.
“For two weeks, my family and I did not leave the underground metro station, even for a minute. The metro became the main bomb shelter for the locals. I did not want to leave the city, because my grandparents remained behind. But when they came to us in Kharkiv, I decided to flee from the war. �?
According to a recent IOM survey, around 28 per cent of the estimated 6. 8 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine fled from the Kharkiv Region. The humanitarian needs of those who chose to stay, or were unable to flee, are immense.

Source of Revival NGO
NGOs delivers IOM’s assistance not only to communities, but also directly to especially vulnerable people.

In May, the city received the first humanitarian convoy from IOM with much-needed items for people staying in shelters and hospitals, as well as hard-to-reach communities in areas under Ukrainian control.
“Locals need solar lamps as there is no light, mattresses and blankets as it is damp and cold in shelters, tools for minor repairs for their damaged houses, and hygiene kits,�? explains Serhii, the head of Source of Revival, one of the biggest non-governmental organizations in the region and IOM’s implementing partner in the Kharkiv Region.
In the first months of the war, the Source of Revival team’s working day began at 6am and ended at 3pm, when a curfew was set and any movement around the city was forbidden. The location of the warehouses had to be changed several times due to heavy shelling, missiles, and air strikes.