After retiring, Maria, 77, and Sergii, 80, left city life behind and settled in Korobochkyne, a quiet village in eastern Ukraine. They spent their days tending goats, chickens and their vegetable garden – living simply, peacefully, at home. That peace was shattered in 2022 when war reached their doorstep…

In 2022, as Russian forces advanced, they fled with nothing but documents in hand. “We just got in the car and left,” Maria recalls. “I had to leave everything.”

During the fighting, their village became a frontline. Most families fled. Homes were shelled. Rain and snow poured in through broken roofs and shattered windows. When Maria and Sergii returned more than a year later, they found their home badly damaged – a collapsed ceiling, smashed windows and soaked walls. But like so many displaced Ukrainians, they were determined to return and rebuild.

“We just got in the car and left, I had to leave everything.”

With support from Habitat for Humanity and local partner Caritas Spes, Maria and Sergii received a grant to buy materials. Drawing on a lifetime of skills – Maria in plastering, Sergii in stonework – they made the repairs themselves. “I still need to paint everything,” Maria says with a smile. “And if there’s enough paint, I’ll do the fence too.”

A Nation’s Housing Crisis

Across Ukraine, more than 2 million homes have been damaged or destroyed since the war began, 10% of the country’s housing stock. Millions of people are still displaced, and millions more have tried to return to Ukraine, only to find their homes uninhabitable or gone altogether.
The scale of the housing crisis is staggering – and it affects far more than buildings. Families are struggling to find safe shelter. Elderly people like Maria and Sergii face unsafe living conditions. Women-led households are at increased risk of poverty. Children’s education and wellbeing are disrupted by overcrowding, instability and fear.

In 2023, Habitat for Humanity opened an office in Kyiv and launched a long-term strategy for Ukraine’s recovery. Our plan focuses on three goals: building more and better homes, transforming the housing system, and inspiring collective action. We’re working with partners across the country to not just rebuild what was lost – but to build back stronger, safer and more resilient. Because home is where healing begins.

Every family, like Maria and Sergii, shows us the meaning of resilience. Stand with them. Donate today.