House of Free People opens in Kyiv to help refugees from Crimea, Donbas

18:28, 18.08.2015 1 min read

The "House of Free People" center has opened in Kyiv which consists of a number of NGOs working with refugees who fled the war in Donbas and the annexation of Crimea.

The NGOs include CrimeaSOS, East-SOS, Employment Center for Free People, and New Donbas.

"This help will be both legal and psychological, social adaptation-related, employment and other types of help," Coordinator of CrimeaSOS Tamila Tasheva said at the opening of the center.

Representative of New Donbas organization Larysa Artiuhina said that refugees, in addition to help in finding accommodation and work, also need humanitarian support.

"We're trying to bring people back from war into civilian life, particularly through culture and dialogue," she said.

Coordinator of East-SOS initiative Oleksandra Dvoretska expressed hope that in the future, Ukrainian government agencies will help NGOs to aid refugees. The center is located on Frunze Street in Kyiv. The project was realized with USAID funding.