As part of a working trip, Oleksandr Shevchenko, Deputy Head of the Donetsk Regional State Administration, visited the “YaMariupol” Support Center in Khmelnytskyi. The center, which has been operating since June 2022, has become an important hub for providing assistance to residents of the Donetsk region and Mariupol who were forced to leave their homes due to the full-scale war. Today, more than 2,200 internally displaced persons use the center’s services.
During his visit, Oleksandr Shevchenko familiarized himself with the center’s main areas of work and spoke with its director, staff members, and displaced persons. The participants discussed the current needs of the displaced persons, the challenges faced by the center’s team, as well as prospects for developing the humanitarian space and expanding the range of services.
The “YaMariupol” Center provides comprehensive support to displaced persons. In addition to humanitarian aid, the center offers social, legal, and psychological counseling, as well as administrative services. Particular attention is paid to helping IDPs adapt and find employment.
In particular, thanks to cooperation with the Employment Center’s “Army of Recovery” program, six women among the internally displaced persons have been employed to weave camouflage nets and are receiving wages for this work. To date, the team of craftswomen has already produced and sent 252 nets to the front lines.
“The support centers for Donetsk residents established outside the region are an example of how community solidarity and care make it possible to maintain unity and cohesion even when far from home,” noted Oleksandr Shevchenko.
Special attention was given during the meeting to the implementation of the “By Your Side” project. Thanks to this initiative, the center’s mobile teams travel monthly to remote communities in the Khmelnytskyi region—including Kamianets-Podilskyi and Shepetivka—to provide displaced persons with humanitarian aid, legal, and social counseling without requiring them to travel to the regional center.
“The outreach format allows those who have difficulty reaching the regional center to access these services. During the meetings, IDPs receive humanitarian aid, as well as legal and social counseling,” said Yulia Mazur, the center’s director.
The Donetsk Regional State Administration continues to support the development of a network of humanitarian spaces for internally displaced persons, as today these spaces serve not only as places to receive necessary assistance but also as hubs for communication, mutual support, and maintaining people’s connections with their native Donetsk region.