Refugees queue up for social support in Kyiv

Anastasiya Minakova from Bryanka of Luhansk oblast has a seven-month-old son. She compares her town with Pripyat and says it is impossible to receive support there. As a young mother, she tried to get at least some money for the baby from the separatists. However, the only she got was a pack of porridge to last a week. Anastasiya packed her things and came to Kyiv. Now she stands in line in employment and social security headquarters in the Darnytsky district of the capital. The woman is trying to receive a migration certificate and ask for social support. “Four hundred something for me and eight hundred for the child. I will also get 41 thousand UAH upon birth, however, as a single mother, I cannot get support as a low-income family and, as I just found out, there will be no payment for supporting a child of less than three years of age. Everything is being cancelled. Especially for the most vulnerable members of society. Therefore you try to get it all, every penny,” laments the young mother. About eight thousand migrants were registered in Darnytsky district alone. Half of them have already received financial aid. The workers see a hundred people a day and say that there are instances of people coming from Donbas to free territories just to get money. “There are cases, when a family comes, receives support, and leaves. Now we investigate all the families that asked us for help, and if they do not reside at the address they give, aid is suspended,” says deputy director of the headquarters for labor and social support of Darnytsky district of Kyiv Viktoria Karpenko.  Having analyzed the order of the Cabinet of Ministers on monthly addressed assistance and how it is being executed on location, law expert Oleksandr Ruzhytsky noticed discrepancies. They are the reason why many refugees are unable to receive social support. “The area of the antiterrorist operation is not yet determined clearly. In particular, according to the law on anti-terrorism, by the order of the commander of the ATO, the ATO zone includes all districts of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. However, in practice, refugees have come face-to-face with the fact that money is only given to those people who live in districts where combat is underway. Meanwhile, the headquarters are governed by the NSDC’s maps. The state refuses to help the refugees who left the conflict zone earlier and have already managed to change their registration address. They demand of them certificates from the public utility services or other documents not prescribed by the Cabinet of Ministers,” says the legal expert. Throughout the past six months, over 40 thousand easterners have enrolled in the social support system in the capital alone. The Ministry for Social Policies reports: overall, more than 72 thousand families from the east and Crimea have received assistance from Ukraine. The Ministry gave 110 million UAH to those who were forced to leave their homes. The refugees can apply for assistance until December 31.