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After the Russian invasion began on February 24, the situation with a significant influx of migrants did not come as a surprise to Lviv, as the city has been preparing such a scenario since late last year. This was announced by Ihor Kobryn, the Head of the Social Protection Department of the Lviv City Council and head of the Coordination Center for Internally Displaced Persons during the Lviv Now/ Tvoe Misto discussion on the topic «How Lviv is transforming during the war.»
«The situation with internally displaced persons did not take the city by surprise. In December, the mayor instructed to prepare preventively for such events. When the offensive began on February 24, we were ready from 9 am, all structures were working. The load in the first days and hours was very heavy, even extraordinary, and so lasted about a week. There were cases when at the end of the first week, we called in the middle of the night with the words that we had nowhere to stay, and then, the next day, in a few hours, we deployed new beds,» – says Ihor Kobryn.
Currently, the situation has stabilised to some extent, the number of immigrants to Lviv even slightly declined. According to the official, the number of people coming to settle here and those who go abroad in one or two days is about the same. At the same time, 20-30% of migrants remain in the city. Most of those who come to Lviv just want to spend the night or go on immediately. In general, the situation has stabilised somewhat, but in numbers, it has not changed much.
In addition, there are many difficult cases when a displaced family may have a person with disabilities, or people are waiting for their loved ones who have not yet been able to leave certain areas. In general, Ihor Kobryn emphasises, increasing the number of residents also increases the load on the city.
«We have already had cases of working with immigrant families since 2014. The situation is difficult because so many people have come to our city. If we only take into account those who circulate in the city, then this is a burden on virtually all areas – medicine, education, transport. By analogy with 2014, let’s take the example of Mariupol, which at that time accepted about 100 thousand internally displaced persons, and in Lviv, there were 7-8 thousand. Mariupol managed to do it then, and we will do it now, too,» – the head of the Coordination Center for Displaced Persons said.
For the past few years, Lviv has had a centre for displaced persons with 90 beds. It was a temporary location for people to find work, settle children, and so on. Instead, in Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, and Donetsk oblasts, more compact places were created – houses were built, even entire settlements.
According to Ihor Kobryn, Lviv needs to start such a practice, as a significant proportion of people who have moved here will not be able to return quickly to their cities and villages. It is also worth noting that in case of escalation in the Volyn and Rivne regions, people who moved there will go further in the direction of the Lviv region.
«I think we need to work on building houses or settlements, because there are some people who will not go abroad for one reason or another, and they will not return to the place where they lived, at least for a long time. It all depends on how many such people there will be. But these places for settlement need to be done. This way, the city has already identified areas where they will be located. Negotiations are underway with organizations, including the United Nations, that will provide such settlements,» – Ihor Kobryn added.
It will be recalled that since the beginning of the Russian invasion, more than 200,000 migrants have moved to Lviv from the regions where hostilities continue. The city has allocated land plots for the construction of modular houses for internally displaced persons. Lviv hopes to support international organizations in working with internally displaced people, building modular housing, and financing other basic needs. Sadovyi also says that approximately one million dollars a day is worth living for the people who came, namely for food and hygiene items. The chief architect of Lviv, Anton Kolomeytsev, told Lviv Now that Lviv is working on several options where a modular town for migrants can be placed, however, specific areas have not yet been named.
For a full discussion of how Lviv was transformed during the war, see here.
Yulia Osym
Translated by Vitalii Holich
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Lviv Now is an English-language website for Lviv, Ukraine’s «tech-friendly cultural hub.» It is produced by Tvoe Misto («Your City») media-hub, which also hosts regular problem-solving public forums to benefit the city and its people.
