Summer updates from KHARPP
House purchases, drone detectors, future plans, and a book publication
In our last update, we wrote about our attempts to find housing to buy for Viktoriia and Mariia, two single mothers from Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts. We’re so pleased to say that we have now purchased properties for both women and their families. In this newsletter, we will give brief updates on these families, and on our other work over the past six weeks. We’ll also introduce two further households who we hope to be able to help in the coming months, as well as announcing KHARPP’s first publication, a book on housing and the idea of the home in Ukraine which we are selling to raise money to continue to support our work.
Viktoriia has been displaced twice - first from her hometown of Donetsk in 2014, where she fled the Russian occupation with her grandmother. Later, in 2022, she, her grandmother, and her young son, Andrii (who was born in displacement in Selydove, a small town outside Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast, and has autism as well as various health conditions), were forced to leave once again. After living for three years in a single room in a shelter, where all three contracted Covid (the long-term effects of which Andrii is still dealing with), they last year moved to two small rooms in Dnipro, without a kitchen and with a shared bathroom. The rent for this accommodation was more than their monthly refugee payments from the government, meaning that Viktoriia (who, as a full-time carer for her son and grandmother, cannot work), was forced to sell possessions each month to afford it. The apartment which we have found them is walking distance from Andrii’s school, with a playground in the backyard. Most importantly, though, it’s theirs, providing them with the foundation they need to start again. Over the past month, we have been collecting furniture from throughout Ukraine for them and funding basic repairs on the apartment. All being well, they will move in at the end of this week. We wouldn’t have been able to do this without your help; thank you all.
Mariia and her three sons, two of whom also have autism and require full-time care, left Lysychansk, in Luhansk Oblast, in 2022. Since then they have also been renting, staying in a small town to the east of Pavlohrad, an area which remains under threat. Unfortunately, although we have finalised the purchase of their new home, Mariia is currently undergoing cancer treatment, which means that their move will not be possible until later in the summer. For now, we are waiting for her signal that she is strong enough to relocate, at which point we will help with all the costs of moving and setting up in their new house.
Alongside this purchasing programme, we are also continuing our work supporting refugees with home repairs, as well as supporting the villages in Kharkiv Oblast where we are no longer able to work on reconstruction. This month, with the generous support of Saint Mary and All Saints’ Church in Charlbury in Oxfordshire, we purchased several drone detectors for Slatyne, which will help the administration to warn residents ahead of time if there are Russian drones approaching the village, as, unfortunately, its proximity to the border means that conventional air alerts are no longer effective against the drone threat.
All of this is only possible with your support, and we are so grateful that we are able to keep doing this work. Over the past few weeks, we have also been made aware of two further housing-related situations where urgent support is required, and we would like to appeal to you to assist us in this.
Granny Olia lived her whole life on the outskirts of Kostiantynivka keeping a large smallholding, mostly goats and chickens. From speaking with her she has a clearly pro-Ukrainian position and deep knowledge of history, in particular the history of the Donbas, where she was born. As the front approached she categorically refused evacuation because of her large number of animals. Since her husband’s death many years ago she has lived alone; in a village nearby lived her son, who sadly did not support her in any way due to problems with alcohol. A year and a half ago, when Kostiantynivka was already coming under heavy shelling, she met Taras Ibrahimov, a correspondent with Suspilne (the Ukrainian public broadcaster), and the Polish journalist Paweł Reszka. Baba Olia’s house ended up right next to the defence line that had been set up near the town to prevent the advance of Russian troops. Every day Olia drove her livestock out to pasture past the dragon’s teeth fortifications. This visual image caught their attention, as a vivid illustration of what local residents face when the front approaches their homes.
Several times Taras and his colleagues brought her food and basic necessities, while it was still possible to travel into the town. Later, as fighting intensified, they lost contact with her. However, a few months ago she managed to make contact with Taras again and told him that by some miracle she had managed to evacuate, covering 15 kilometres on foot, taking only her documents, dogs, and cats with her. He also learned from Olia that her house has been completely destroyed, and most of her livestock killed. At present she is temporarily living in one of the most heavily shelled districts of Kyiv in a single dormitory room measuring 15 square metres along with her grandson and his girlfriend. Due to the lack of space, they sleep in shifts. Olia continues to fear loud noises, and dreams of a small village house in any region far from the front so she can quietly live out her old age. We are hoping to raise money to buy Olia a small house and plot of land in a safer area of Ukraine. This will cost around £8,000, and we will be so grateful for any support you can offer to help us to reach this goal.
We were also recently contacted regarding Oleksandr and Olha Ptytsia, a couple from Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast, now living in central Ukraine with their three adopted sons, all of whom have various health conditions which require constant care. Having fled in 2022, leaving behind two houses, an apartment, and stable work, they sought somewhere with access to medical and educational infrastructure nearby. Eventually, they found Horodkivka, a village in Vinnytsia Oblast, where the head of the community, Olena Reznyk, first housed them next door to herself. Only in 2025 were they finally able to buy a house of their own, however it is unfinished and not yet fit to live in.
For now, all five of them live in the small summer kitchen in the yard, sharing one bedroom, with the toilet and shower outside. “Right now it’s fine, because it’s warm,” Olha says. “But when the cold comes, there simply won’t be enough space. We don’t even have room for a wardrobe.”
Oleksandr is a pensioner; Olha works at a sewing factory. Because Avdiivka is occupied, they cannot receive compensation for the homes they lost, and the community budget cannot cover the building work. Oleksandr and Olha still hope to adopt more children, and the finished house would have room for them. The work required to make the house liveable in is extensive, including full replacing the roof and many of the windows, and putting in insulation. Please consider supporting us as we begin this new project.
Alongside this, we are so excited to announce that we have produced a small, bilingual book, entitled “Housing and the Home in Ukraine”. It’s a collection of sixteen texts which explore issues surrounding housing, both in connection to the war and prior to it, from personal, academic, and journalistic perspectives. The topics covered range from displacement to the decision to remain in your home close to the frontline, along with other pieces on housing under Russian occupation, the experience of soldiers related to housing, and that of Crimean Tatars. We held a launch in Uzhhorod, in the west of Ukraine, last week, and tonight will host another in Kyiv, with readings and discussions of issues around housing and displacement. We are selling it in the UK for £20, plus £5 postage, with all proceeds going, of course, to KHARPP, and to our work supporting refugees with relocation. If you are interested in purchasing a copy, please donate by usual methods here, and email us at donate@kharpp.com with your name and address. Please allow a couple of weeks for postage from Kyiv! In the autumn, we also hope to come to the UK for a series of fundraising events around the book. We have tentative plans so far in London, Oxford, Cambridge, and St Andrews, but if you might have further ideas and suggestions please let us know.
Once again, thank you all for remaining with us. It is almost four-and-a-half years since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and even as more and more people are displaced or have their homes destroyed every day, attention continues to slip away. So, the fact that we are able to continue to support these communities, and that they know that they can rely on us, is such a privilege, and we are so grateful to everyone who keeps donating and sharing our work.
Well. Thank you. For bringing it all before me so vividly. For what you do. For the risks you take. For helping me feel, for a moment,that in this bad, bad world, there's still decency and hope