Winter Is Coming. So Are Ukraine’s Refugees

Two years ago, Volodymir Rozhkov, a real estate developer in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, bought a long-abandoned Soviet-era children’s camp called Romashka in a nearby park. He wanted to redevelop it into a recreational area, complete with a cafe. Then the war came. People started fleeing the war zone, either to other parts of Ukraine or to Russia, depending on their political leanings or family connections. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says 490,000 Ukrainians have registered as internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine, while 430,000 have sought asylum or other forms of legal status in Russia.

In May, Rozhkov invited one displaced woman with her children to take shelter in his camp. Soon there were 300 displaced people jammed into the camp’s only habitable building. A total of 2,000 have since passed through Romashka, says Oksana, Rozhkov’s wife. As snow began to fall, about 120 people, mostly seniors, women, and children, have remained in the camp’s cramped rooms without central heating or indoor toilets. “I work flat out and don’t earn any money,” says Rozhkov. He was inspired to volunteer by the protests in Kiev, where ordinary Ukrainians risked their lives to topple the previous government.