Ukraine: Nowhere to return to — displacement remains widespread due to the war
Yurii did not want to leave Pokrovsk, a town at the epicentre of heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine, until the very last moment. But everything changed when he suffered a devastating injury that cost him his leg.
In the summer of 2024, as the front line crept closer to Pokrovsk, an evacuation was announced for this town in Donetsk Oblast. Even then, 54-year-old Yurii refused to go.
“They offered to take me to another city, but my whole life is in Pokrovsk. My mother can only walk with a frame, she couldn’t leave on her own. So, I stayed and guarded the railway property,” he recalls.
Yurii had worked on the railway for years — first as an engineer, then as a dispatcher. When the war reached the town, he became a security guard at the Donbas Centre for Track Mechanisation, a unit responsible for repairing tracks and machinery. The centre itself was evacuated, leaving only a handful of people behind to safeguard the remaining property.
“We got used to the explosions. It’s dangerous, of course, but people adjust to shooting and shelling. We simply learned to live with it,” he adds.
Despite the extremely harsh conditions and the front line drawing ever nearer, Yurii remained in the town. Then, in March 2025, everything changed. He had gone out to fetch water and stopped to talk to a neighbour when the ground suddenly collapsed beneath him — they were under attack.
When he regained consciousness, his head was ringing, and part of his leg was lying beside him. He managed to bandage the wound himself using a belt before a military doctor arrived to give first aid. His neighbour died instantly.
Yurii was evacuated first to Dobropillya, then to Dnipro, and later to Kryvyi Rih. Months of rehabilitation in Kharkiv followed, where he received a prosthetic limb with support from the Red Cross.
Through a project funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, the DRC also covered the cost of his medication for phantom pain and helped pay several months’ rent for a flat in Kharkiv.
Moving to Kharkiv — a city Yurii previously knew only from a train window
Yurii has grown fond of Kharkiv: he admires its historic buildings and finds its people kind and sincere. Although life feels safer than in Pokrovsk, the city still faces regular shelling.
As part of the DRC project, the organisation plans to support up to 50 victims of explosive ordnance in Kharkiv by the end of 2025. Assistance ranges from providing medicines and medical supplies to improving housing accessibility and supplying essential work equipment.
Fortunately, Yurii’s mother was also evacuated, and they now live together in a rented flat. Recently, his aunt — likewise forced to flee her home — joined them. All three now share the same flat, a reminder of the housing challenges facing people who have lost everything to the war.
I don’t know whether my property is still fine in Pokrovsk. Probably not. The last time I asked friends, the walls of the house were still standing, but the roof was partially destroyed and the windows blown out. On top of the shelling damage, there’s also looting in the town… We’re living on state support now, but it’s only a few thousand hryvnia — barely enough to survive. The assistance from the DRC came at exactly the right moment; it helped ease my pain and gave me a roof over my head during a very difficult time.
People continue to evacuate en masse from settlements near the front line
According to the DRC’s Protection Monitoring Report, between 1 June and 12 September 2025, more than 89,000 people across Ukraine were relocated to safer regions, including more than 9,400 children and 2,900 people with limited mobility. Most evacuees came from Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Kherson, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
In Kharkiv and Donetsk oblasts, displacement remains high and continuous, especially in frontline districts such as Kupianskyi, Pokrovskyi, and Kramatorskyi.
The main drivers of movement remain the same, though increasingly severe: destruction or damage to housing (73%), shelling (46%), and loss of access to essential services (36%). Occupation of property and unexploded ordnance contamination are also reported. Displaced households often include older people, persons with disabilities, and low-income rural families. Secondary displacement is common, with many moving first from frontline areas to a supposedly safer location, only to relocate again.
Upon arrival in Kharkiv Oblast, evacuees also face significant barriers in accessing adequate shelter, healthcare, and legal aid, exposing major gaps in safe evacuation routes and post-arrival support.
Looking ahead
With his rehabilitation ongoing, Yurii is thinking about what comes next. Having lost so much, he hopes to rebuild his life in a place where he can feel safe and supported.
The aid he received from the DRC has helped him regain stability and confidence to make plans for the future. Yurii is currently considering seeking state compensation for his damaged property — an issue the DRC's lawyers can help with.
Despite the uncertainty, he remains determined to stand on his own two feet — even if one of them is now a prosthesis.
