Ukraine: Dry and warm homes — improving living conditions for IDPs and vulnerable people

To help improve these living conditions, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) supports internally displaced people (IDPs) and other vulnerable residents by replacing windows and doors and repairing roofs.

The project, implemented by DRC with support from the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund, focuses on assisting those most in need: older people, internally displaced families, large households, people with disabilities and individuals with low incomes.

In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, more than 70 families are currently receiving assistance, while in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, support has reached over 30 families.

One of them is 53-year-old Antonina*. The war shattered her life. In 2022, when the full-scale invasion began, her village in Zaporizhzhia Oblast fell under occupation. Her brother was killed and a drone shot her son. An explosion damaged her family home, forcing her to flee to Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, controlled by the Ukrainian government. There, she settled in her late brother’s house.

“I lost everything suddenly — in an instant,” Antonina says quietly, tears filling her eyes.

Her daughter and daughter-in-law, along with their seven children, were unable to leave the territory occupied by the Russian Federation. The family remains separated, and Antonina can only reach them occasionally by phone, constantly fearing for their safety.

The house in Krasnopil where she now lives was in poor condition. The windows were old and draughty, and the roof leaked when it rained. Antonina lives with diabetes, and recently her IDP benefits were cancelled. Today, she survives on humanitarian assistance and occasional help from another brother who lives nearby.

“I could go to work in Zaporizhzhia, but the salary they offer would barely cover the cost of travel,” she says, mulling over the options of what to do next.

Holding her small black and white Chihuahua, Chip — who barks tirelessly at strangers — Antonina proudly shows the newly installed windows.

“The windows used to be in a terrible state. No matter what I used to seal them with, there was always a draught. But now there’s no draught at all. And it’s much warmer. Before, no matter how much I heated the house, the warmth just escaped through the old windows.”

DRC also helped install new windows in the home of Olga, 57, where she hosts an internally displaced family of Anna and Ivan* and their kids. They have been staying here since 2022. They do not pay rent, but Olga receives support through the state’s ‘Pryskystok’ programme — about 450 UAH (less than 10 euros) per person.

Even with these tiny payments, replacing windows was impossible. Olga works as a nurse on a 0.25-time contract, earning just 2,700 UAH (about 50 euros) a month. Anna says they could not help financially either.

“We thought about helping, because my husband and I both work. But he is constantly seriously ill — he has already had three heart attacks — and we have to spend money on his treatment,” says Anna.

She has three children and works as a care assistant in a care home, caring for seriously ill patients. Ivan recently received a small pay rise and now earns just over 10,000 hryvnias (about 192 euros), which meant the family’s IDP benefits from the state were withdrawn. 

Anna and Ivan moved from a neighbouring community where the security situation was far worse. Amid constant shelling, both Anna and her daughter began suffering panic attacks. Although drones also fly over Zelenyi Hai, the village itself is not being directly targeted — they feel much safer here.

“Thanks to your help, we are very happy — and so are the youth,” says Olga. “The windows were very old. There was no glass in one — when a plane flew once, it simply fell out.  And honestly, we didn’t have the money to fix it.”

She pauses, looking around the warm room.

“I am very grateful that you appeared in our lives. Now you can feel how warm it is in the house.”

In wartime, when explosions echo almost daily, and families are forced to abandon their homes and start again elsewhere, living in cold, damaged houses takes a heavy toll — not only on people’s health, but also on their morale.

Yet small improvements can make a profound difference. A repaired roof, new windows, a warm room in winter — these become more than just shelter. They offer comfort, dignity and the strength to keep moving forward.

*Names were changed for confidentiality purposes.