Oleg is one of the thousands of people fleeing the war in Ukraine on the territory of Bulgaria. He lived in Kharkiv region but after the shelling in the area became unbearable he took the difficult decision to leave his home and flee.

Together with his wife and his 86-year-old visually impaired mother, they escaped to Kazakhstan from where they flew to Turkey and eventually arrived in Bulgaria by bus.

When the IOM Bulgaria team met them, Oleg and his family were waiting for their temporary protection documents in RRC Sofia, visibly exhausted from the arduous journey, with no money and nothing but the three heavy bags they packed all essential possessions in.

As part of our Ukraine Response activities, IOM Bulgaria provided Oleg's family with an emergency accommodation for several days and a one-time financial aid to cover their most urgent needs. Despite all the uncertainty about the future, Oleg was happy that at least they feel safe in Bulgaria. Just one day after arriving in Bulgaria, he is already determined to learn the language and make the necessary steps to start the process of integration in the country.

So far, IOM has covered the individual short-term ad-hoc emergency accommodation of 50 vulnerable persons for total of 209 nights and provided one-time multipurpose cash assistance to more than 2100 vulnerable individuals, displaced by the war in Ukraine. 

IOM Bulgaria's emergency accommodation for people fleeing the war in Ukraine programme is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan