“I prayed all the time." We provided the first humanitarian aid to Nikishyne in six months
Published: Mar 3, 2015 Reading time: 4 minutes
“Look, son, it hit here. There as well,” says Valerie, and points to holes made by mortar shells around her house. One grenade formed a crater next to the goat pen, another punched through an iron trough, and a third almost hit the hallway of the house. Valerie has been half-deaf ever since. Soldiers have improvised a makeshift defense system- shell crates piled high in front of any windows. The house survived, miraculously intact.
“I prayed all the time. In my room, in the basement…” Valerie explains, after we asked how she had survived the last six months. She shows me little crosses, which she drew in chalk on window frames, doors, and everywhere else.
Pinpointing the most remote area of Donbas is difficult, as the small hamlet of Kruglik has nearly been forgotten. It is lost in the middle of fields, and only ten people used to call the tiny village home. After the first armed clashes in June 2014, they left and only Valerie Moltsanova and her neighbor, Valerie Polyakova, stayed. Fighting waged between both sides until the frontline finally settled, only fifty meters behind the village. Soldiers dug trenches, fortified them with sandbags, and settled in the empty houses. These two old women survived solely on the soldiers’ food. Though the grave of commandant Seryozha in the village garden remains as a single tragic memento of the fighting, the two old women could not rid themselves of the horrors they endured.
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Now, all of the signs of war, mortar shells, and soldiers are gone. A small group of engineers has remained to remove the tanks from the empty fields and repair them. Electricity is still off in the entire area. Valerie Polyakova has dug in the old rubbish, and found a kerosene lamp from the Second World War. “I never would have imagined that such a thing could happen here again,” says Valerie, referencing her dire situation. She is happy, however, that we brought her a flashlight, along with soap, washing powder, towels and food rations. Kruglik is a long way from the TV crews and humanitarian teams- our aid is priceless here.
Most of our aid is delivered to the nearby town of Nikishyne. The frontline ran through the heart of the village, and the fighting clearly took its toll. All of the houses have been almost entirely destroyed, and everything has been turned to rubble. Most of the local people have left, but those who remained have lived in a terrifying state of limbo for the past six months. “I slept in a different place every night,” Sasha, an ageless man in faded clothes, remembers.
When the frontline and fighting subsided, people started to return. However, the engineers have not swept the village, and the streets are still full of shells and unexploded grenades. “Just watch your step, be very careful,” one of the local men warns. The other residents are already signing a petition for the authorities to quickly remove the dangerous ammunition.
In Nikishyne, about 50 families received the same type of aid as the two old women from Kruglik, such as hygiene kits provided by UNICEF, food rations from WFP, and blankets from UNHCR. We distributed aid to 106 families, which is about 300 people in total.
Around one third of them are the residents who remained throughout the duration of the fighting- the others came back to repair their houses. We will provide them with building materials, and if someone is unable to repair a house by himself, we will hire his neighbors to help him.
People In Need and UNHCR provided the first humanitarian aid to the area in six months. The focus of this humanitarian assistance, Debaltseve, is only 20 km from here, but no other aid has been delivered to Nikishyne so far. While Nikishyne is one story of hope, there are still many other places torn apart by fighting, and many who still wait for help there.
People in Need in Ukraine
People in Need has helped to aid eastern Ukraine since August, organizing assistance from the Slavyansk office. We provide those most in need with immediate humanitarian aid, such as food or medicine. We also help repair damaged houses, equip refugee centers, and offer food vouchers to those who need them. Since the beginning of November, People in Need has been systematically working in Donetsk and areas controlled by separatists. PIN has opened an office in the city and provides the most vulnerable people with food, medicine, toiletries, and baby diapers. On a monthly basis, we provide food to over 7,000 people. Other aid includes the support of several retirement homes, hospices, and shelters for the homeless.
For more information, please contact:
Vladislav Vik, PIN desk officer for Ukraine, +420 778 531 399, Vladislav.Vik@clovekvtisni.cz