A bicycle, a toy and a cat: What Ukraine’s fleeing families carry

Olena never imagined she would have to leave her home in Druzhba, a quiet town in Ukraine’s Sumy Region, just 5 km from the Russian border. Life there was peaceful until the war changed everything. 

As the fighting escalated, sirens, explosions and fear became part of daily life.

“My greatest worry was my 85-year-old mother,” said Olena. “She has limited mobility and struggled even in peaceful times. With the danger growing daily, we couldn’t stay – but I just didn’t know how to evacuate her safely.”

Aid workers step in

With roads damaged by shelling, Olena reached out to Humanitarian Mission Proliska, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that receives funding from the OCHA-managed Ukraine Humanitarian Fund. The team responded immediately, organizing a safe evacuation for the entire family: Olena, her mother, her 13-year-old son and even their cat.

They packed only the essentials: documents, medicine, her son’s favourite toy and the bicycle he couldn’t bear to leave behind. Then they set off into the unknown but away from the shelling.

Stories like Olena’s are now tragically common in the Sumy Region, where intense fighting near the border has forced thousands of people to flee in recent months. Entire communities have been damaged or destroyed, including homes, hospitals and schools. The intensity of the attacks has triggered a new wave of displacement, but the people most at risk are those with the fewest options.

“Most of the people we help are elderly or have health conditions that make travel incredibly difficult,” said Denys Naumov, who coordinates evacuations in the Chernihiv and Sumy Regions for Humanitarian Mission Proliska. “Some can’t walk on their own. Others have no family to assist them. But staying behind means living with constant danger.” 

Aid workers risk their own safety to bring people in high-risk areas to safety.

First stop

The first stop for evacuees is often a transit centre, where they can rest, warm up and receive basic support. Many arrive with almost nothing.

“You see people getting off the buses carrying just a plastic bag,” said Yevhen Koliada from the Relief Coordination Centre, another implementing partner of the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund. “They’ve left behind their homes, their animals their lives. Some are still in shock.”

At the transit centres, humanitarian organizations offer much-needed support: hot meals, legal assistance, help to register as a displaced person, psychological support and small cash payments to cover urgent needs. Children receive clothes and school essentials; older people receive blankets and hygiene items; everyone is offered a warm place to sleep.

Starting over

“After a few days, families move on – some to relatives, some to rented rooms, some to collective shelters,” explained Yevhen. “That’s when another part of the work begins – helping them rebuild their lives.”

For people like Olena, displacement is not just about moving from one place to another; it’s about starting over with very little but while carrying the weight of everything they have lost.

“We don’t know what the future holds,” Olena shared. “But thanks to the people who helped us, we at least have a chance to find peace again.”

Across Ukraine, 3.7 million people remain displaced, many for the second or third time. The UN and its humanitarian partners continue to provide emergency support while also helping people like Olena to build more stable lives in more secure areas until they can safely return home.

Olena's family is now safe, far from the front line.

“What I value most now is the silence and seeing my mother sleep peacefully and my son laugh and play again,” she said.

Needs remain high

Humanitarian workers continue to provide vital support, but people’s needs remain high as the war grinds on. 

Since the war escalated in February 2022, the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund has become the world’s largest Country-Based Pooled Fund. Over the past three years, it has enabled partners to deliver life-saving support to nearly 7 million people across Ukraine, and in 2024 it provided US$162 million to nearly 60 partners through three funding allocations. Sixty per cent of those funds went to local NGOs. This support provided critical assistance to more than 700,000 people across Ukraine, including 300,000 women and 70,000 girls, mostly in front-line regions. In 2024, with almost $20 million from the fund, 14 national NGOs helped provide protection to displaced people, including the evacuation of civilians from Ukraine’s front-line areas.

With continued support, more families can stay safe and hopeful for the future.