Anatoliy, 89, and his wife, Vira Shestopalova, 81, have been together for over 60 years. Instead of a peaceful retirement, war disrupted the family’s life. They were forced to leave everything they owned in the Donetsk region: enemy shelling destroyed the husband’s parents’ home in the village of Yablunivka, and later they had to abandon their homes in Kostiantynivka and Druzhkivka.
After the evacuation, the couple spent nearly two months at the “Ocean of Goodness” NGO’s Social Adaptation Center for People with Disabilities in Dnipro, where they received care and support.
In mid-May, they and 12 other evacuees were relocated to a hospital in the village of Vinkivtsi in the Khmelnytskyi region as part of a long-term nursing care program developed by the Ministry of Social Policy, Family, and Unity of Ukraine.
The individuals will stay at the medical facility for up to 60 days, where they will receive daily care, medication, meals, basic necessities, psychological support, and social assistance. Subsequently, the facility’s social workers will seek permanent housing for them.
The story of the Shestopalovs’ rescue is just one of thousands. The “Skhid SOS” Charitable Foundation, together with its partners, evacuates people with limited mobility from danger every day, meets and supports those rescued at transit centers, and then helps with temporary housing, document restoration, and finding places for further resettlement in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Policy and the Donetsk Regional State Administration.
Over the past few weeks, another 14 elderly and disabled people, evacuated from Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk, Kostiantynivka, Kamianka, Sloviansk, and other settlements in the Donetsk region; from Chaplyne and Mezhova in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, as well as from Novomykolaivka in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, were relocated to hospitals in Kozelshchyna, Novi Sanzhary, Kotelva, and Velyka Bahachka in Poltava Oblast. Four people found shelter at the Inpatient Care Unit for permanent residence in the village of Nadlak, Kirovohrad Oblast.
The “Sхід SOS” Charitable Foundation helps people escape danger. The team provides support at every stage: from departure to finding places for resettlement.
Sign up for evacuation: 0 800 332 614 (Mon–Sat, 8:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.).
Consultations via messaging apps:
Viber: +38 (099) 710 48 72;
Telegram: +38 (096) 108 60 48.
Based on materials from the "Skhid SOS" Charitable Foundation