Moldovan spirit: embracing and supporting Ukrainian refugees

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 triggered the largest refugee crisis in Europe’s recent history. More than 6 million Ukrainians were forced to flee their homes and seek refuge abroad to save their lives from the Russian assaults. 

From the first days of the war, a stream of Ukrainians poured across the borders into neighbouring Moldova.

More than 1.5 million Ukrainian citizens have entered Moldova, of which around 120,000 are still residing in the country. For a nation already grappling with significant internal challenges and a difficult economic situation, this influx of refugees has been a daunting test. Yet, it has not deterred Moldovans in their desire to help Ukrainians. The small country has shown an incredibly big heart, making room for everyone.

To support the most vulnerable Ukrainian refugees in Moldova and to provide essential assistance to the country itself, the European Union, in collaboration with its international partners, is actively engaged in humanitarian efforts here. 

These initiatives include direct cash assistance for both refugees and the Moldovan families hosting them, providing nutritious hot meals, offering medical and psychosocial support to those in need, and the list goes on.

Snizhana’s family left their home in Kharkiv’s hard-hit Saltivka district after a missile landed in their front yard. Saving the lives of their son and daughter, the family spent 2 months travelling across Ukraine before finally settling in Moldova.

Providing for a family in a foreign country was not easy. The European Union, together with the French NGO ACTED, helped them with vital financial assistance. Thanks to these funds, the family could pay the rent and maintain decent living conditions.

We met with Anatolii in December 2023, in Chisinau, at the UNHCR registration centre, where he was applying to receive cash assistance from the European Union.

For him, as an elderly refugee with no one close to help him, this financial support was vital. He planned to use the money to buy a new pair of winter shoes and pay his utility bills.

For Alvina,15, from Donetsk Oblast, the war started back in 2014 when she was just 5. ‘War forces you to grow up faster than you should. Without the war, I would be a little girl, living in my town, unaware of these hardships,’ she says.

She now lives near Chisinau and studies online at a Ukrainian school. In her free time, she visits the EU-funded Millennium Centre, run by UNFPA, where she connects with peers and enjoys her childhood despite her past difficulties.

For many Ukrainian refugees, like Tamara and her family, who found safety in Moldova, renting an apartment is a challenging task so they live in one of the Refugee Accommodation Centres spread across the country.

Thanks to EU funding and the work of the WFP, Ukrainian refugees receive a hot, nutritious meal every day. For most of them, such basic assistance can be lifesaving.

The EU’s humanitarian work in Moldova goes far beyond the abovementioned efforts. In addition to directly supporting vulnerable refugees, we provide modern medical equipment and ambulances to hospitals in different regions of the country.

Khrystyna, who left her home in Odesa because of war, welcomed her third child, a little boy Dmytro, in one of such EU-supported hospitals. ‘The treatment and service here was very good. I was pleasantly surprised.’ she says.