Natalya already knew what it felt like to have to leave her home.
Last year, she and her young son fled the encroaching fighting in eastern Ukraine and took shelter in Novopavlivka, in the Dnipropetrovsk region west of Donetsk.
This spring, as the fighting moved closer, they were forced to evacuate once again.
“It was hard to move a second time because we left everything there,” Natalya said. “We only spent half a year there. My parents are still there. It's a nightmare there.”
This time, they had help from a humanitarian organization, Proliska, which arranged for them to move to safety.
Proliska staff recently helped a group of seven adults and 17 children cross the country by train, a journey of some 1,200 kilometers, to Mukachevo in the western Zakarpattya region.
Olha Omelyanyuk, the organization’s regional head, told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service that the evacuation operation was urgent.
“Novopavlivka used to be far from the front lines, and it's now a frontline zone,” she said. “It's located about 5 kilometers from the front lines. This means that air strikes are now reaching the village.”
As the families arrived in Mukachevo, hot meals and help were waiting for them.
Kateryna, who was traveling with her three children, said moving her family across the country to find accommodation in a dormitory was "difficult."
"You get used to your own home," she said.
Natalya Omelyanyuk, who works for Ukraine’s social services, said that housing in the town of Berehove had been arranged for the evacuees, and social workers and doctors would assist them.
“They receive full support and can apply for all types of state assistance,” she said. “The city provides humanitarian aid and food until people get settled. They'll have what they need to find jobs, go to work, and for the children to go to kindergarten and school.”
NGO and state assistance helped ease the transition, but Natalya said her son, a second-grader, was still suffering the effects of being displaced.
“It was very difficult for him to leave home,” she said. “He cried. He didn't want to go. He has a lot of cats there.”
But there were positives to their new situation, too.
“There are other children here at least, and he would be alone back home,” Natalya said. “Let's see how it goes. I hope everything will work out.”
