From Kherson to Kherson through Estonia: Yulia’s story

Yulia’s past two and half years have been particularly difficult, even for Ukrainian standards. She endured occupation, then their house in Oleshky was flooded, and they lost almost all of their belongings. Finally, she was able to flee with her family through 3 countries before returning to Kherson oblast, only a couple of kilometres from her original home – but now, she lives on the besieged Ukrainian side, enduring daily shelling coming from the left bank of the Dnipro. The displaced family from Oleshky received cash support from the Ukraine Response Consortium led by World Vision and ACTED and funded by USAID.

Until October 2023, Yulia worked as a social worker and also cared for her elderly grandparents. “June 6, 2023 remains in my memory as the most terrible day of my life.”- says the displaced woman. Everything was washed away, including documents, livelihoods and belongings. The occupants’ rescue operation took more than a day – extremely long time if there is no way of knowing if help will come at all. The situation was complicated by the curfew imposed by the occupation authorities – “20:00 is the deadline after which we have to be home by 6 am” – but the water did not wait for the morning, nor did the drowning animals and people.

Having escaped and survived the great flood that followed the Nova Kakhovka Dam disaster, they remained cut off from the outside world in Oleshky. Here they lived for another six months, consuming whatever they still had stowed away in their pantry. Yulia tried to convince her elderly grandparents, but they flatly refused to move to a safe place and leave their home, which they had built themselves and lived there all their lives.

But the danger of freezing in an unheated house, the demands to hand over their Ukrainian passports and take Russian citizenship, and their granddaughter’s firm ultimatum had a sobering effect on them. They didn’t know how and where to go, or what awaited them in an unknown Europe. They also did not know that they would have to cover more than 10 thousand kilometres of road in three days through 3 countries. To go through a checkpoint and be searched by Russians, to see Estonia and Poland from the car window and to end up in Germany with relatives, but at the end of the long journey to find peace and comfort in their old age.

When she dropped them off in safety, Yulia returned to her native Kherson region after a short rest, so close to her native Oleshky yet so very far. “I want to return home to Oleshky, but it is impossible now,” she sighs sadly. Penniless – all the money went to the transporters – with no documents and no idea on what to live for, she still managed to find an apartment and some work to support her basic needs. She’s determined to stay where she is, despite the daily danger of artillery shelling.

Nevertheless, Kherson currently offers few opportunities not only for professional development but also to stay afloat. Temporary part-time jobs and inconsistent income are how those who do not want to leave the region have to live here. When Yulia received cash assistance from the Ukrainian Response Consortium partner Hungarian Interchurch Aid, she was just going through a period of unemployment, receiving social payments from the Labour Department. She was wondering how to restore her documents and how to pay for food, rent and her best companion – cat Kasandra. “I could not leave her in Germany, she is my family.”

While the cash assistance she received is not enough to live a lavish lifestyle – a three-month instalment amounts to 10,800 UAH, approximately 270 USD – it came just at the right moment. Thanks to the URC – World Vision, ACTED, USAID and Hungarian Interchurch Aid – Yulia was able to pay for her housing and restore her lost documents. As they say, “a stitch in time saves nine”, and Yulia is grateful for the support, which turned out to be a ray of light in the darkness surrounding her.

This story was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under Grant Agreement “Ukraine Response Consortium: Providing Multi-Sectoral Humanitarian Assistance to Conflict-Affected Populations in Ukraine (2023-2024)”