February 20, 2024
News
Western Ukraine has become a safe place for people fleeing from Russian military aggression against Ukraine. Julia and her elderly mother arrived here in the spring of 2022 after their hometown Lysychansk was attacked by the Russian army. They cannot go back because the city is occupied. Thanks to Caritas Czech Republic, Yulia found safe accommodation and now works at local sewing factory.
Evacuation from Lysychansk
Yulia cannot remember exactly why she chose to flee to Mukachevo. When the family decided to leave Lysychansk in the Luhansk region in 2022, they took the evacuation train to Lviv and then moved to Mukachevo. A few months later, Lysychansk was taken over by the Russian army and Yulia lost access to any information about her hometown. "In Lysychansk, they shut down the internet and phone communication - we have no contact with our relatives or friends," she explains.
Yulia's son Vadim, who is 22 years old, works in Kharkiv as a rescuer in the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. The city is located near the border with Russia and regularly faces rocket shelling. "My son is saving people, removing debris from damaged buildings after the shelling," Yulia says proudly about her son, regretting that they rarely get to see each other.
Life in Mukachevo: new home, new job
In Mukachevo, Yulia and her mother initially lived in a dormitory of the local Agrarian lyceum. She remembers that one day, a team from Caritas Czech Republic in Ukraine visited their dormitory and said they would build modular houses for the displaced people nearby.
"We filled out the forms, and soon we were offered to settle in one of these houses. Everything necessary for living is here. We are very grateful for this opportunity, as we have nowhere to go back to. We don't even know if our houses still exist," says Yulia. Yulia enjoys Zakarpattia for its nature, landscapes, and the empathy of its people, as well as its peaceful atmosphere. However, her thoughts often drift back home and to news from the frontlines.
"Nowadays, I feel fulfilled at work. A year ago, I got a job as a seamstress at a company that moved here from Kharkiv. We specialise in sewing covers for railway wagons," Julia explains. This job differs from her pre-war position at an oil refinery in Lysychansk, but sheis grateful for the opportunity to work and for having a decent place to live.
Caritas Czech Republic in Ukraine
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion by Russia in February 2022, Ukraine has been facing severe attacks and casualties. Millions of people have been forced to flee their homes in the areas of fighing and relocate to other regions of Ukraine or abroad. In the east of the country, some cities have been completely destroyed due to massive shelling.
Caritas Czech Republic in Ukraine is assisting people affected by the war. We provide shelter to internally displaced persons in modular houses in Western Ukraine, improve living conditions in collective sites, and address the urgent needs of residents in frontline and de-occupied communities in Southern Ukraine.
