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Returning to the front line in Ukraine

Displaced Ukrainians must choose between scarce resources in exile or unsafe frontline areas with inadequate services.

Returning to the front line in Ukraine
When the fighting came closer and others evacuated, Olga chose to stay, mainly because her mother refused to leave and Olga did not want to leave her behind. “When the missile hit the basement just an inch from where we were hiding under a blanket, I felt as if I had entered hell! Everything burned around me. We understood then we are not masters of our own fate. You feel you are just a piece of sand. You do not decide anything. I believe God saved us from burning in that fire. It was not our time to die yet. He must have a reason for letting us stay alive.” Meanwhile, rumours spread in the village that Olga had died in the attack. [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC]
By Ingebjorg Karstad
Published On 26 Feb 2025

As Ukraine enters its fourth year of the war, vulnerable displaced Ukrainians are forced to make agonising decisions – either stay far from home with diminishing aid, limited job prospects, and rising living costs, or return to the most intense conflict-affected areas where safety and essential services remain almost non-existent.

It is estimated that about 1.6 million individuals have made this hard decision and returned to areas within 30km (19 miles) of front lines since February 2022, despite the ongoing violence and insecurity.

People who have been displaced for many months, or even years, are showing worrying signs of struggling to cope while away from home. After three years, many have little left to sell, and families and friends can no longer support one another.

Many displaced people in Ukraine have exhausted almost all of their savings and are increasingly accumulating debt. For many, the only option available is to return to their homes – even if they are damaged and close to the front lines.

The situation in areas that are heavily affected by the war is worse than ever. More and more people are struggling to provide food, water, and medicines for their families in places where it is increasingly dangerous for humanitarians to work.

Constant shelling and attacks limit the provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance while posing a constant threat to those living there. A majority of those living close to the front line are elderly people, who accounted for nearly half of civilian deaths in frontline areas in 2024.

Humanitarian assistance represents a lifeline for those who are in urgent need of support, but this lifeline is now at risk, with increased uncertainty around US funding disrupting essential aid, especially in frontline areas.

Meet some of those who have made the difficult choice to return, those who never left, and some who stayed until the last minute.

*This photo essay is provided by the Norwegian Refugee Council 

Returning to the frontline in Ukraine
Three years after the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, more than 6.5 million people have left to seek refuge outside the country, while a further 3.5 million people remain displaced within Ukraine. [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC]
Returning to the frontline in Ukraine
Despite the intensification of hostilities and the worsening security situation in areas along the front line during the first half of 2024, data suggest that people continued to return to these areas. Dimitri is one of them. He lives with his family in Yarova, 20km (12 miles) from the current front line in eastern Ukraine. He is one of only 15 people in the village who has a job out of the 800 who have returned or never left during the months of Russian occupation. Despite his income and allowances for the youngest children, the family hardly survives financially. [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC]
Returning to the frontline in Ukraine
Returning to the frontline areas comes with new risks and worries. Huge parts of the land are filled with mines and other explosives, making agriculture, or even paying one's respects to deceased family and friends in the graveyard, impossible. Many families have their bags packed as they fear new rounds of Russian advances while they hear the fighting go on in the near distance. [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC]
Returning to the frontline in Ukraine
We do not have enough money to live a decent life any more. We have our small pension, and we get food here, but to apply for an extra 2,000 hryvnia ($48) that we are entitled to, we need to physically go to an office and apply. With our health problems, we are dependent on someone helping us to get transport there. How do we even do that?” Anatoliy says. [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC]
Returning to the frontline in Ukraine
Anatoliy and Maria have saved a newspaper clip from their beloved hometown that reads: "A city that no longer exists. Stories of the residents of Vovchansk." “We used to have it all – now we have nothing,” Maria recalls. “Our house had a garden where we grew vegetables, and we had cows, chickens and geese. It used to be such a beautiful village; now nothing is left of it. It’s all in ruins. I often cry when I think of my home. I miss it so much. This is war. No one gave us anything worse than this.” [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC]
Returning to the frontline in Ukraine
The war has so far taken more than 12,000 civilian lives in Ukraine. In Izium, a place where grave atrocities took place during the occupation, at least 44 civilians were killed while they were hiding in the basement of this apartment building, according to Human Rights Watch. [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC]
Returning to the frontline in Ukraine
Alla, a close friend of Olga, recalls the time when she thought her friend had died in the attack. Unlike Olga, Alla evacuated together with her son and four of his university friends who had escaped the invasion of Kharkiv and found safety with her in Sviatohirsk. They got out right before the Ukrainian army blew up the bridges leading into the city in an attempt to slow down the Russian advance. Life in displacement proved to be hard with an endless row of temporary homes, unemployment and uncertainty. The day Sviatohirsk was retaken by Ukraine, Alla was ready to return home. Once there, she got to know that Olga was alive. “My son is still in Kyiv. It's his third apartment there. The prices are going up. The first one was 4,000. The next 7,000. Now he pays 17,000 and the salaries don't increase at the same speed,” Alla explains. [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC]
Returning to the frontline in Ukraine
Many of those who were forced to flee their homes have found it hard to get relevant and steady employment while displaced. Stas used to work in a shop. But after he lost his home in a bomb strike and evacuated, he struggled to find work. Eventually, he got a job looking after cows and got severely injured in an accident that led to his disability. He now seeks help to get the right documents so he can apply for disability benefits. [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC]
Returning to the frontline in Ukraine
Natalia shows the firewood they received that will help them through the cold winter. The family fled as the Russian troops were closing in on the village of Yarova but chose to return to the frontline area a few months after it was retaken despite the destruction, lack of infrastructure and work opportunities. “Life as an internally displaced person is hard. It was difficult to find places to stay in as an internally displaced person, and rents were high. It was also hard to find a stable income. We all longed for home.” "All of us have a difficult time here close to the front line. Most families live only from the aid packages they get. That's all the food they have. We depend on them. It’s extra hard when you have children to feed and there’s hardly any employment in the village,” Natalia explains. [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC]
Returning to the frontline in Ukraine
Anastasia, 14 years old, and Natalia's oldest daughter, longs back to life before the war. She has found it hard to return to the frontline village. There are few young people around. Old friends are no longer friends and her isolation has grown. The online school lessons only work now and then as the internet is both unstable and expensive for the family. [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC]
Returning to the frontline in Ukraine
A woman collects water from one of the water points in Sviatohirsk village, 23km (14 miles) from the front line. The village was occupied on June 1, 2022, and retaken on September 12 the same year. There was massive devastation to houses and infrastructure like electricity, gas, water and sewage systems. Today the electricity is back, but people still have to collect water from collection points. [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC]
Returning to the frontline in Ukraine
Olga lights a candle in the church in Sviatohirsk. After having survived two shelling attacks during her months living under Russian occupation, Olga feels she has gotten a second and third chance in life. “When the city was liberated, my friends called and asked what they could bring me, and I could not think of anything. I just wanted quietness. I felt this sudden emptiness because there were so few people around. So much destruction. I needed to fill my life with something meaningful and started to do volunteer work. I always said that I cannot see myself anywhere else than here. This is my home. Where my heart is. I feel my calling is here.” [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC]