Russia-Ukraine International Armed Conflict: Missing a pastry-scented home

Nadezhda is a pastry chef by profession who used to work at a private confectionery factory in Lyman. She is raising two daughters by herself, and like many who are living through the Russia-Ukraine international armed conflict, was forced to leave her home due to the hostilities. Our team in the city of Donetsk met Nadezhda during a distribution of food parcels and hygiene kits in Yenakiieve. Nadezhda was one of the people we assisted together with our local operational partner. 

“I remember I was cooking and I heard the shelling start. Something was flying, buzzing and I stood listening while everything was frying and cooking on the stove. We quickly ran into the house and I shouted to my daughter, ‘Lie down on the floor!’ It was scary. I thought we would be buried under the rubble. We didn’t have a basement in the house so we hid under our beds. My daughter was very scared then,” said Nadezhda.

After the escalation of hostilities in 2022, Nadezhda and her daughter had to live in a bomb shelter for several months. Because of the number of people in the shelter, they decided to return home. Their return was temporary, though, as nearby shelling was intensifying. Eventually, they were evacuated to a nearby village away from the frontline.

A neighbor came and said ‘Nadya, get ready, the evacuation has begun!’ So, in September 2022 we were evacuated by bus. I only took a few bags of groceries, a pot, and a frying pan. If I had known that we would never return home, I would have been better off taking clothes for myself and my daughter.

Nadezhda was pregnant when she left her home city, and her second daughter was born in her new town of Yenakiieve. Now, the three of them live in a one-room apartment. The family struggles to make ends meet and relies greatly on social benefits and humanitarian aid. Nadezhda cannot find any part-time work since her younger daughter is not yet old enough to attend kindergarten.

Her eldest daughter, Angelina, is a schoolgirl who helps her mother take care of the house and her younger sister. She misses her home and her friends. She also misses her beloved dog which they could not take with them while being evacuated.

For Nadezhda and Angelina, Lyman is a reminder that they were once happy and had everything--a home, a job, coniferous forests where they used to pick mushrooms and preserve them for the winter, as well as a lake where they went swimming. And a house that always smelled delicious because pies and cakes were being freshly baked.

Nadezhda dreams of returning home and to her favorite job. But most of all, she dreams of seeing her sister again. They have lost contact and Nadezhda does not know where she is. As Angelina listened to her mother’s story, she looked thoughtful and suddenly asked, “Will there be fighting here too?”

In 2024, the ICRC team based in Donetsk city jointly with our local operational partner carried out the following activities in support of people affected by the ongoing international armed conflict, including:

• Over 35,000 socially vulnerable people, including people affected by the conflict in 20 different locations received food and hygiene parcels.  
• 346,600 liters of drinking water was delivered to frontline communities and health-care facilities.
• 24 tons of emergency material, 570 tons of roofing material and other materials delivered to frontline communities and social institutions. 
• Support was provided to a water supply company for maintenance and operations. 
• Assistance to hospitals with medical items to support treatment of the weapon-wounded.
• Provision of physical rehabilitation items (wheelchairs, walking aids) to people with disabilities affected by the conflict. 
• Assistance to the bedridden and elderly with diapers and other hygiene items.