Evacuations are also underway in neighboring Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, is supporting both evacuees and those left behind.
Federico Sersale, head of UNHCR’s Dnieper office, said UN News that most of the people who want to stay are elderly or disabled.
Some are unwilling to leave their homes for fear of never returning. Others simply cannot evacuate on their own and need help.
A difficult decision
People who remain in frontline areas live in harsh and extremely stressful conditions, facing constant attacks and interruptions to basic services.
Their movements are also limited by the security situation. However, despite these difficult circumstances, convincing them to leave is not an easy task.
“I think the most important thing is that it’s their decision whether to leave or stay. What we try to do, to the extent possible, is give them the information to make an informed decision,” Sersale said.
Help evacuees and frontline communities
Meanwhile, UNHCR and its NGO partners are providing them with much-needed assistance.
“When we have access to those communities, we provide different types of services and assistance, from basic relief items such as blankets to shelter materials and repair items in case their houses are affected by airstrikes, but also psychosocial support and legal assistance.”
The most vulnerable evacuees pass through transit sites – government-run facilities, where they stay briefly, receive basic services and continue their journey.
Federico Sersale, head of the UNHCR Dnieper office.
“46 percent of the people who have passed through the transit places are elderly or people with limited mobility. This is a novelty,” according to Sersale.
“We help set up these sites, we provide basic equipment like beds, blankets, washing machines, whatever is needed to make them work. We also provide services, including psychosocial and legal assistance, as well as cash assistance, that allow people to cover their most urgent needs. It varies depending on what the gaps are.”
Front line resistances
Svitlana, an elderly woman from a frontline community in the The Zaporizhzhia region (DD1), passed through one of these sites south of the city of Dnieper.
Although they were encouraged to leave early, she and her husband refused. They lived in very harsh conditions, without electricity and with drones constantly flying over their house.
Svitlana, an evacuee from the Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia.
When the front line began to change in Zaporizhzhia and the situation worsened a few weeks ago, he finally decided it was time to leave.
Svitlana spent a few days at the transit center, received cash and other assistance, and was then transferred to “An Ocean of Kindness” in the city of Dnipro, a UNHCR-supported facility that provides temporary accommodation to internally displaced people (IDPs) like Svitlana, who use wheelchairs or have limited mobility.
“I met her there,” Sersale said. “It’s a temporary solution. He’s waiting to find longer-term accommodation.”
“When I met her, she had incredible energy. Despite everything she had been through, her eyes were still full of hope and energy.”
Long-term solutions and resilience
One of the biggest challenges for vulnerable IDPs like Svitlana is finding long-term solutions, including housing and more comprehensive support.
“This could mean an assisted living facility. It could mean receiving home care, living in a home, but also receiving certain services,” Sersale said.
“Housing for internally displaced people is one of the main gaps. We are actively working in this area alongside our emergency response efforts.”
As Svitlana explores options for a more permanent arrangement, UNHCR continues to provide support to her and other internally displaced people.
“I think her story is a perfect example of what life is like on the front lines. You have to make a difficult decision about whether to leave or not and then find the resilience to start again.”