In Cherkasy, a city on the bank of the Dnipro river in central Ukraine, a car with shrapnel damage down one side is parked in a courtyard outside some apartments. The word ‘Children’ is pasted onto the car’s windows – an attempt at deterring Russian troops from shooting at the vehicle, which belongs to a family from Kharkiv. For the past six weeks, Russian forces have shelled that east Ukrainian city into ruins, forcing tens of thousands of residents to leave.
Since 24 February, more than five million Ukrainian citizens have left the country, while a further seven million have been internally displaced. Many have gone to western Ukraine. But when the money begins to run out, people tend to go home – returning to their ruined neighbourhoods and cities. Others start their journeys home but decide to stop in central Ukraine, for example, in Cherkasy region.
“Why do people come to Cherkasy? It’s a question of mindset and a question of convenience,” says Volodymyr Panchenko, who coordinates work with displaced persons for the city’s council. “If you look at the map of Ukraine, then the battles have been in the south, north, east. Cities like Dnipro, Poltava, Kropyvnytskyi and Cherkasy are relatively peaceful. People understand that they can go home from here, or further west. We’re well placed.”
