How and how to help Ukrainian refugees

Immigrants from Ukraine continue to come to Russia. Most of them need support and rehabilitation. We tell you how you can help those who left Ukraine – whether you are in our country or abroad

Since February 2022, millions of people have been forced to leave Ukraine due to hostilities. According to the UN, more than 6 million Ukrainian refugees ended up in Europe, and more than 2 million in our country. Many of them do not receive sufficient support. You can help them with things, and financially, and by becoming a volunteer.

What kind of assistance is provided to refugees from Ukraine in our country

In fact, the majority of migrants from Ukraine in our country do not have refugee status, since it is very difficult to obtain this status in our country, and it would be wrong to call everyone that.

IDPs can settle in a temporary accommodation center or find housing on their own. People may be eligible for temporary asylum, temporary residence or citizenship. To do this, they need to collect a package of documents, which is sometimes not possible to obtain. Because of this, the migrants have problems with finding work and payments.

Everyone who left Ukraine is entitled to financial assistance in the amount of ₽10 thousand, but this amount is not enough to provide themselves with everything they need. In this regard, various organizations and associations offer Ukrainians several types of assistance:

  • material and humanitarian (money, essentials, medicines, etc.);
  • legal;
  • medical (visiting hospitals, issuing mandatory medical insurance);
  • psychological;
  • help with deeds (help with relocation, find housing, etc.).

Help points for refugees

and international organizations have organized points in large cities where you can bring the things necessary for the settlers.

United Nations Refugee Agency in our country

The Agency accepts items of clothing, writing or kitchen utensils, toys, food at the Refugee Reception Center at the address: Moscow, Izmailovsky blvd., 39/41. Phones: +7 (495) 465-31-01; +7 (495) 965-09-19.

“Second wind”

The Foundation accepts clothing and essentials for people forced to come to Russia from Ukraine. Adult clothing can be donated to containers throughout our country.

Addresses in Moscow:

  • Shopping center “Areal” Altufyevo, Sela. Address: Altufevskoe sh., 86, metro station Altufevo;
  • Shopping center “Areal” Belyaevo, Sela. address: st. Profsoyuznaya, 102, m. Belyaevo;
  • 1Zhukov, Lamoda, stock container. Address: Marshal Zhukov Ave., 1s1
  • m. Polezhaevskaya, m. Khoroshevo;
  • ARTPLAY, container in background. Address: ul. Nizhnyaya Syromyatnicheskaya, 10s7, m. Kurskaya, m. Chkalovskaya;
  • Charity Shop, the foundation’s thrift store. Address: st. Fadeeva., 7с1, Mayakovskaya metro station, Mendeleevskaya metro station, Novoslobodskaya metro station;
  • Charity Shop, the foundation’s thrift store. Address: 1st Botkinsky pr-d., 7с1, Dynamo metro station;
  • Charity Shop, the foundation’s thrift store. Address: st. Novokuznetskaya, 1c1, Novokuznetskaya metro station;
  • Charity Shop, the foundation’s thrift store. Address: st. Sadovaya-Spasskaya, 12/23с2, Sretensky Boulevard metro station, Sukharevskaya metro station, Turgenevskaya metro station, Chistye Prudy metro station;
  • SEC Columbus, SECOND BREATH fund container and collection points of Love Republic and Sela partners. Address: st. Kirovogradskaya, 13A, m. Prazhskaya;
  • Gardenmir, Lamoda, fund container. Address: Prospekt Mira, 40 metro station.

A complete list of Moscow addresses can be found here.

Points in St. Petersburg:

  • Beeline: Savushkina, PickPoint post office. Address: st. Savushkina, d. 3m. Black River;
  • LiveBeer: Alexandra Grina, PickPoint post office. Address: Alexander Grin blvd., 3, metro station Primorskaya;
  • LiveBeer: Archived, PickPoint Post Office. Address: st. Arkhivnaya, 11, building 1, metro Dybenko Street;
  • LiveBeer: Murinskaya, PickPoint post office. Address: st. Murinskaya road, 84, m. Devyatkino;
  • My-Shop.ru: Zagorodny, PVZ. Address: Zagorodny pr-kt, 30, Zvenigorodskaya metro station;
  • My-Shop.ru: Kolomyazhsky, PVZ. Address: Kolomyazhsky pr., 15/1, Pionerskaya metro station;
  • Net Store, PVZ. Address: Engels Ave., 150, office 1 17N, room. No. 27-3, Prospect Prosveshcheniya metro station;
  • PickPoint: 6th Soviet, PVZ. Address: st. 6th Sovetskaya, 22/22, metro station Ploshchad Vosstaniya;
  • PickPoint: Gavanskaya 42, PVZ. Address: st. Gavanskaya, 42;
  • PickPoint: Gatchina, PVZ. Address: st. Gatchinskaya, 19-21, lit. A, m. Chkalovskaya.

A complete list of collection points is available here.

“House of Friends”

The Fund collects humanitarian aid for refugees who are in two points of temporary residence in Rostov-on-Don. The organization accepts both new and used clothes, products, household chemicals, dressings and hygiene items.

Help can be brought to the address: Moscow, st. Polbina, 54, left end of the building, ACR “Shelter”, (+7 (965) 601-82-54, Valentina). Help can also be sent with delivery.

“Mercy”

The Foundation accepts baby food and products, hygiene products, child care products, clothes and shoes, stationery and household items.

Help can be brought to the address: Moscow, 2nd Kadashevsky lane, 7. Coordinator number: +7 (925) 075-08-23.

“Shop of Joy”

The Foundation accepts humanitarian aid at Lavki Joy charitable stores. The priority is household chemicals, personal hygiene products, as well as light shoes and any clothes in good condition.

Addresses in Moscow:

  • Shop on Pokrovka, st. Pokrovka, 45 building 4, metro station Red Gate, metro station Kurskaya. Phone: +7 (905) 506-22-64;
  • Bench on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, Maly Sukharevsky lane, 7, metro station Tsvetnoy Boulevard. Phone: +7 (968) 878-31-58;
  • Shop on Timur Frunze, st. Timur Frunze, 11 building 44, m. Park Kultury. Phone: +7 (968) 496-80-08.
Warehouse with things “Shops of Joy” (Photo: lavkafond.ru)

How can you help migrants?

The easiest way is to send money. All of the above funds, in addition to things, also accept cash donations.

Konstantin Vorobyov, lawyer of the Need Help Foundation:

All organizations officially registered in our country are supervised by the Ministry of Justice, as well as the prosecutor’s office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so it is absolutely safe to transfer money to them. The “safe” group also includes well-known international humanitarian organizations: the Maltese International, UNICEF, etc. The activities of unknown foreign funds must be checked for compliance with Russian legislation on their own.

For example, money can be sent:

  • through the Health and Life Charitable Foundation – for humanitarian, legal, medical assistance to refugees, adaptation courses and career guidance;
  • through Malteser International (Maltese International, 27 national associations and monasteries of the Order of Malta) – for humanitarian, psychological and assistance to refugees at the border,
  • through UNICEF – for the program of reconstruction of the destroyed infrastructure, education and medical assistance.

The Civic Assistance Foundation (included by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation in the register of NGOs performing the functions of a foreign agent) calculated the approximate monthly expenses of one refugee family:

  • payment for accommodation – ₽25;
  • meals — ₽20;
  • transport — ₽1600.

If there is no way to help financially, then you can take part in all possible volunteer projects.

Become a volunteer

A number of large international organizations offer to take part in helping refugees as a volunteer. For example, the United Nations Refugee Agency provides this opportunity through a form on its website. Resources – both financial and volunteer – are usually very scarce for local organizations, so help will definitely be needed in those trusted organizations that are mentioned in this text.

Volunteers at the Joy Shop warehouse (Photo: lavkafond.ru)

Who else wants to volunteer:

  • “Shop of Joy”. Volunteers sort things in the warehouse in their free time.
  • The Moscow and Moscow Region Refugees group, together with the Second Wind Foundation, are recruiting volunteers to unload and distribute things.
  • Petersburg group “Refugees. Help for those remaining in the Russian Federation” offers to become a volunteer in order to provide IDPs with housing, organize medical care, and offer work. And through the group “Help to Refugees Living in TAPs” to help refugees in a temporary accommodation center near Tikhvin, you can become coordinators to bring people and things to or from the camp.
  • “Need help”. The Foundation offers to become an online volunteer to distribute a newsletter with materials about the problems and needs of those in need on social networks.

Collect humanitarian aid

If there is no time for volunteer work, then you can systematically collect and send humanitarian aid to one of the organizations.

  • The Need Help Foundation proposes to create on the website of the platform “Taking the opportunity” your own collection of funds or things for a specific organization or purpose. To do this, you need to fill out a profile by logging in through social networks, e-mail or by phone number.
  • The “Refugees of Moscow and Moscow Region” group invites everyone to buy and send food, hygiene items, linen and equipment to the headquarters. It is located at: Moscow, st. Krasnoproletarskaya, d. 6A, bldg. 1. Current lists of the necessary and the schedule of the headquarters are available here.
  • The crisis center for pregnant women and women with children in a difficult situation “House for Mom” ​​is constantly in need of baby diapers, food, feminine hygiene products, towels and bedding, children’s stationery and other items.

Help from a distance

You can volunteer not only in person, but also remotely. Organizations and foundations need specialists in various fields – from lawyers to educators, as well as people who can book tickets, send out information about housing, etc.

Where and how you can volunteer:

  • “Doctors for Refugees”. The organization has a chat in Telegram, where requests for medical assistance or medicines are published. Doctors and healthcare professionals can respond to messages and offer help.
  • The SILSILA Foundation for Psychological Assistance, a partner of the UN Refugee Agency, offers to become a volunteer in various forms: from accompanying victims to, for example, taking photographs.
  • As part of the School (Assistance to Refugees) project, teachers from Moscow schools conduct free classes for children to improve their academic performance and prepare them for the Russian educational program.
  • The initiative group “Events for Refugees” organizes cultural events for IDPs in Moscow and the Moscow region. Volunteers are required to negotiate free tours and tickets with institutions, and to help organize sports and other events.

Help from abroad

Those of our country who have moved or live abroad can also help Ukrainian refugees.

Konstantin Vorobyov, lawyer of the Need Help Foundation:

“With the support of a foreign organization, make sure that it is not connected with participation in hostilities (does not cooperate with the authorities of Ukraine, does not engage in political activities, does not directly support any of the parties to the conflict), and on the website of the organization and in the offer when collecting donations, that donations are collected solely to help refugees and cannot be used in any other way

If you are a major donor, suggest that the organization enter into an agreement that includes conditions that exclude the possibility of spending funds on prohibited activities, as well as detailed reporting to prevent the donation from being misused.”

Below are some of the dozens of organizations that provide assistance.

  • The Common volunteer project helps Ukrainian refugees learn foreign languages. Anyone can become a volunteer or teacher. Classes are conducted in 37 languages. The application must be filled in the NPO bot.
  • As part of the MentorMove project, you can become a mentor for immigrants from our country, Belarus and Ukraine who are looking for a new job remotely or abroad. The community has a Telegram channel with news and announcements of events related to job search. Project mentors review resumes, make recommendations on portfolios, advise on employment issues, and can also give recommendations to their company.
  • Each country where Ukrainian refugees are located has its own local organizations that help them in different ways: there are many organizations in Poland, Estonia, Georgia (including, for example, the Nino Katamadze Foundation), Armenia and other European countries.

Leave a Reply