Welcome to war-torn eastern Ukraine.
A place where, for the last 8 years, people have written “Family lives here” on their gates to let fighters know that civilians reside in the area.
The pipeline carrying water to the village was damaged by shelling at the beginning of the conflict, in 2014. With no easily-available water, people had to innovate to survive.
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They managed this way for four long years. Then, in late 2018, clean water started to arrive in the village by truck.
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People in Need created this cartoon about the daily life of the couple but never published it because Mikhail passed away suddenly in 2019, and Svitlana remained alone. Still, we never stopped thinking about their story.
After Mikhail’s death, trucks continued to deliver potable water to Svitlana every week. In the summer of 2021, we visited her to complete the story.
Svitlana is now 64, and has been living in Pisky for 36 years, where she worked as a salesperson before retiring. She lives near the Street of Peace and Olympics street. But those are just names. Very little reminds her of peace or the Olympic spirit. She hears shelling every day, and the scars of an eight-year-old war are etched into the walls of her home.
In the village of Pisky, problems with drinking and grey water began in 2014. Before then, the village was served by a central water supply from the Donetsk filtering station. But at the beginning of the conflict, the system was damaged and the filtering station remained on the other side of the frontline in non-government controlled areas. Due to active fighting in the frontline area, it has not been possible to repair the damaged water pipes. This was a serious problem for local residents, especially before People in Need began trucking in water. That’s because people had no choice but to drink contaminated grey water, which led to health problems. Another common tactic was to harvest rainwater.
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The only sustainable solution for the people in Pisky and other villages directly on the frontline is the end of the conflict. The security situation in eastern Ukraine is deteriorating, and the spike in hostilities is once again damaging civilian infrastructure. The security situation worsened in Pisky as well.
The support we are able to provide Svitlana and others on the frontline in eastern Ukraine is possible thanks to the generous support of the European Union. #UkraineNotForgotten
The support we are able to provide Svitlana and others on the frontline in eastern Ukraine is possible thanks to the generous support of the European Union. #UkraineNotForgotten
ACCESS consortium funded by the European Union
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In 2017, a group of humanitarian non-government organizations decided to work together to deliver some of this much-needed humanitarian assistance: People in Need (PIN), Médicos del Mundo (MdM), ACTED in partnership with IMPACT Initiatives, Help Age International (HAI) and Right to Protection (R2P). The ACCESS Consortium has since reached over 260,000 people with support from EU Humanitarian Aid. ACCESS partners have developed significant experience of collective humanitarian intervention in Ukraine and a thorough, evidence-based understanding of the context.
Cartoon: Karel Jerie
Photo: Alyona Budagovska, Petr Stefan, Stanislav Krupar
Video: Alyona Budagovska, Petr Stefan
Creation of the PageFlow would be never possible without the support of People in Need Ukraine team.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Cartoon: Karel Jerie
Photo: Alyona Budagovska, Petr Stefan, Stanislav Krupar
Video: Alyona Budagovska, Petr Stefan
Creation of the PageFlow would be never possible without the support of People in Need Ukraine team.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
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Welcome to war-torn eastern Ukraine.
#UkraineNotForgotten