While millions of refugees have fled Ukraine since the start of the invasion on 24 February, others have stayed behind to help those remaining in areas now under the control of Ukraine. Russia.
Roman Baklazhov, a furniture maker from Kherson, stayed behind to distribute medicine and cook meals to the elderly after parts of the region fell to the Russian army in mid-March.
“We started helping people in 2014 and haven’t really stopped. We have helped refugees from Donbas move to Kherson,” Baklazhov told CNN last week. “On February 24, of course, we were all shocked, and then I understood that something had to be done.”
Last week, Ukrainian officials estimated about half of Kherson’s population have fled the region, many of whom say they are fleeing heavy Russian rule.
Baklazhov started giving out free lunches to those who stayed, cooking in a school by donating potatoes and chickens from local farmers, and feeding about 200 people a day.
“This is a quiet district in our city, closer to the edge of the city,” he said. And most are pensioners,” he said, adding that there was already a problem with pension payments for people living in more rural areas.
Baklakhov also works to ensure that everyone has access to medicine.
Baklazhov added: “There is a problem with drugs, that people have no money, they are running out of money. And they can’t afford it.”
To help, Baklazhov coordinates drug deliveries with Andrii Vakarchuk, who lives in Odesa, sends him lists of medicines people need so he can buy them and sends them to Kherson.
Vakarchuk told CNN that deliveries have to go through Russian checkpoints and soldiers sometimes steal products like food.
“It looks like the drugs are still there, they don’t touch them,” he said. “Somehow, they took one of my bags, and so they let the rest pass.”
But getting help for Kherson remains difficult, he said.
“There is no single route that works,” says Vakarchuk. “Every time it’s some sort of lottery, they’re looking for a better way.”
