he winter emergency in Ukraine, caused by the energy crisis triggered by the intense and continuous bombardment of power generation and distribution facilities, is one of the main humanitarian emergencies after almost three years since the Russian invasion. Frequent blackouts lead to a paralysis of heating systems, in the midst of a winter characterised by freezing temperatures. Difficulties are even more acute in the eastern and southern regions of the country, close to the front line.
One of these is the district of Nikopol', a city in the Dnipropetrovsk region. The city is located on the right bank of the Dnepr River, the armed forces of the Russian Federation are on the left bank. Since 1 July 2022, the Nikopol' district has been subjected to a constant, almost daily bombardment of artillery and drone strikes.
As the city is located near the Kakhova dam (the primary source of drinking water for 700,000 people in Ukraine), it was hit in June 2023 and approximately 100,000 people in the Nikopol district were left with no central water supply.
It is actually Nikopol' one of the districts close to the front line that Sant'Egidio has taken charge of for regular humanitarian support.
Since the very days immediately following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, Sant'Egidio has sent tons of drinking water. Collaboration with the administration, telephone contact with vulnerable families and the monthly dispatch of basic necessities have since then made it possible to support some 1,000 families, more than 3,500 people. Among them are a number of family homes that house minors and have been hit by bombings.
As Ukraine's cold winter has arrived, the Community has intensified its intervention, targeting above all the most vulnerable: the elderly, large families, with people with disabilities, and the many who, with their men at the front, have lost all sources of livelihood.
Constant telephone monitoring by the centres in Lviv and Kyiv allow personalised aid to be sent: medicines, clothes. But, particularly this season, the aid for Nikopol' has been designed to protect against the cold when there is no heating system or adequate protection: over 1,000 kits of thermal clothing, firewood and power stations have arrived at their destination in recent days.
The photos here published, sent by those who received help, as a sign of gratitude, give us the opportunity to ‘enter’ into the homes of those who, for the past three winters, have been suffering from the war and strengthen our prayer that they may soon find a way to peace.
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