On June 14 and 15, the first trips of social routes took place in Lozivska community of Kharkiv region and Novooleksandrivka community of Zaporizhzhia region. The routes were launched within the ADRA Ukraine project, implemented in cooperation with the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund. In the Lozivska community they cover 48 settlements, in Novooleksandrivka – two remote villages.

Since the beginning of full-scale hostilities in February 2022, most of the settlements in these communities have been left without transport links because of shelling, fuel crisis and lack of funds in community budgets. Oleksandr Kornienko, a head of the Novooleksandrivka village, says: “Due to these routes, we can solve many social issues – our elderly people will be able to visit doctors; young people and IDPs will be able to form documents, go to shops and pharmacies. We are very grateful to ADRA Ukraine for this opportunity, it is just a breath of fresh air for our community.”

“We live in Plysove village, our pension is 2300 UAH per month. To rent a car in order to get to Lozova costs 1200 UAH. And there is no bus that goes to us. Now we have taken advantage of the social transportation, so we are very grateful to ADRA Ukraine for doing such great work”- said Nina Pavlivna, a resident of the Lozivska community.

As of June 17, 2022, ADRA Ukraine provides uninterrupted running of twenty-six social routes in five communities of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions. Since February 2022, due to the project 2,852 people have been evacuated to safe places, 2,775 people have been provided with access to vital infrastructure.