Ukrainians are not leaving dangerous areas under shelling because the government is not helping displaced people

Many residents of frontline areas remain under shelling because the state is not helping internally displaced persons.

This was stated by Olha Altunina, a representative of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.

According to her, people leaving through a transit center are currently entitled to a one-time payment of 10,800 hryvnias (€213).

“And that’s it — after that, they are on their own. And if a person finds a job, they can no longer receive this assistance. If they do not find a job, then for the first six months they can receive 2,000 hryvnias (€40), but that does not make a substantial difference. You cannot rent housing for 2,000 hryvnias (€40),” Altunina said.

Out of 4.6 million internally displaced persons, only 1 million receive state payments, which amount to 2,000 hryvnias (€40), while persons with disabilities receive 3,000 hryvnias (€60). The reduction in the number of recipients happened as early as the second year of the war, in 2023.

According to Altunina, after that, people “became disillusioned.”

Only 80,000 people were placed in collective accommodation centers. The rest rent housing themselves at their own expense.

“That is precisely why people are reluctant to leave, remain under threat and shelling. People do not want to leave because they have nowhere to go,” Altunina concluded.

It is worth recalling that in September of last year, it became known that in the 3.5 years since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, only 63 internally displaced persons in Ukraine had been provided with housing at the state’s expense, even though 528,900 requests marked “housing needs” had been submitted during that time.

Earlier, Verkhovna Rada deputy Anna Skorokhod also said that displaced persons from Crimea and Donbas are often not hired by state bodies because of “filtering.”