Internally displaced persons in the Russian-Ukrainian war and their issues 

As a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war that began in February 2022, millions of people have been forced to flee their homes seeking aid, safety and protection.

Since February, 2022, millions of refugees from Ukraine have crossed the country’s borders and found refuge in neighboring countries, and the same number have become internally displaced. As a result of Ukraine’s attack on the Kursk region at the beginning of August, 2024, Russia also faced the problem of internally displaced persons.

Fact Investigation Platform studied the condition of the internally displaced persons from Ukraine and the Kursk region of Russia, what kind of state support they receive, and also touched upon the support provided to the forcibly displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh in Armenia.

Ukraine

Opendatabot.ua writes that as of June 2024, 1.5 percent of Ukrainians (more than 69 thousand citizens) left Ukraine and did not return.

From the launch of the war to September 16, 2024, 6 million 789,500 citizens left Ukraine. About 6.2 million of them, according to the latest data of September 16, 2024, settled in Europe, and 571 thousand live across the world.

As for internally displaced persons, their number in Ukraine is around 3.7 million according to February data of this year. There is state support for internally displaced persons in Ukraine. The following is planned for the evacuated Ukrainians: provision of free food and humanitarian aid during evacuation, restoration of lost documents, provision of temporary accommodation, quality psychological and medical assistance, financial support from international organizations, state monetary assistance for living, assistance for job placement, priority right to use programs with free meals in pre-schools/schools, support for the provision of solid fuel for the heating season in 2024-2025.

According to the Visit Ukraine website, since March, 2024, the rules for providing financial support to the internally displaced persons by the state have changed. Now, the main benchmark for granting payments is the financial viability of the internally displaced. Thus, to calculate the aid, the total income of the family is taken into account, which should not exceed 9444 hryvnias (88,085.04 AMD) per family member.

Thus, families whose income per person is less than 9,444 hryvnias are eligible for financial support. The following groups can also receive such support: families with children under the age of 14 who live in the zone of active or possible hostilities or in relatively safe areas where children do not have the opportunity to study offline, families where one of the family members is a caretaker of a person of the first group of disabilities or a child up to 18 years old (with an age-related disability or a serious illness), children up to 14 years old who arrived without parental accompaniment (according to the application of a person in a family relationship), pregnant women starting from the 30th week of pregnancy.

The amount of payments for internally displaced persons is 2000 hryvnias (18,654.18 AMD) per month. In addition, 3,000 hryvnias (27,981.27 AMD) are paid per child.

At the same time, from September, 2024 , payments were automatically extended for 6 months for the most vulnerable groups of displaced persons who are unable to work, are pensioners whose pension amount does not exceed 9444 hryvnias, are persons with disabilities of the first or second group, are children with disabilities up to 18 years of age, seriously ill children, orphans and children deprived of parental care under the age of 23, as well as parents-guardians and foster parents.

In addition to state support, internally displaced persons in Ukraine have received and continue to receive financial support from a number of international organizations, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), whose financial support will amount to 3,600 hryvnias (33,577.53 AMD) per family member from October 1 instead of 2200 hryvnias (20,519.60 AMD) previously paid; from UNICEF, ICRC, etc. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has also launched a new financial support program. Financial support, which amounts to 3.6 thousand hryvnias (33,577.53 AMD) per person and will continue for 3 months, can be received by persons who currently live in areas where hostilities are ongoing, have suffered from aggression, are internally displaced, and who fled their home.

Russia

Following the attack on Russia’s Kursk region by the armed forces of Ukraine on August 6, 2024, the number of people displaced from Kursk is about 150 thousand. Russian President Vladimir Putin stated on August 8 that residents of the Kursk region who fled their homes will receive 10,000 rubles (42,356 AMD) each. “Let’s assume that the decision on lump sum payment of 10,000 rubles is already adopted. The required resources will be put into action,” Putin said. The Russian government allocated about 220 million rubles (931 million 851 thousand 613 AMD) for the program.

Nevertheless, there are complaints among internally displaced persons in Russia that they are not receiving the 10,000 rubles of aid promised by Putin. In addition, many children also did not receive the promised tablets for remote learning.

Yevgenia Nazarova, Director of the “Social Navigator” volunteer organization, according to “Agenstvo,” complained that not even an evacuation was organized in the Kursk regions, and many people took care of their own rescue. “The Kursk administration simply escaped. There were rare cases where they were stayed. It is treason. Accordingly, we faced people’s aggression and deep dissatisfaction with the authorities. They are disappointed,” Nazarova said.

Also, the Russian government allocated 1.8 billion rubles (7 billion 622 million AMD) to provide assistance to families deprived of shelter.

On August 9, a federal state of emergency was declared in the Kursk region. According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation, in case of federal emergency situations, the affected are eligible for the following payments:

1. Lump-sum payment: 15 thousand rubles (63 thousand 516 AMD),
2. In case of partial loss of primary property: 75 thousand rubles (317 thousand 579 AMD),
3. In case of total of primary property loss: 150 thousand rubles (635 thousand 160 AMD),
4. Payments to the family members of the killed: 1.5 million rubles (6 million 351 thousand 601 AMD).
5. In case of medium or severe damage to health: 600 thousand rubles (2 million 540 thousand 672 AMD),
6. In case of light damage to health: 300 thousand rubles (1 million 270 thousand 336 AMD).

Armenia

Following the large-scale offensive by Azerbaijan against Artsakh on September 19, 2023, the number of forcibly displaced persons from Artsakh is more than 100 thousand. In order to meet the primary needs of forcibly displaced persons from Artsakh, as well as to cover living and other costs, the RA government has implemented a number of programs which the Fact Investigation Platform has already addressed.

To mention a few: the AMD 100,000 support program was implemented, within which lump-sum financial support was provided to all members of the displaced families, the AMD 50,000 support program was implemented, within the framework of which support was provided to forcibly displaced persons at bimonthly intervals, as well as to cover the living and other costs of forcibly displaced persons, the support measure of AMD 40+10 thousand was implemented and is still ongoing.

In addition, the state support program for providing housing to forcibly displaced families is also underway, within  which AMD 2 to 5 million of support is provided per family member, a reimbursement program for the tuition fees of forcibly displaced students, as well as free medical care services have been implemented.

Numerous international organizations and foreign governments also provided financial or property support to those forcibly displaced from Artsakh as humanitarian aid.

Syuzanna Hambardzumyan