IOM has provided folding chairs, mattresses and blankets to Kyiv's Metro system to help make the experience of sheltering from air raids a little less uncomfortable.

The official handover ceremony, involving Ukraine capital’s mayor, Vitalii Klytchko, took place just hours after a large-scale Russian missile and drone attack led to the destructionin several districts of Kyiv, with three people injured.  Other areas of Ukraine were also affected, with at least five people perishing near the western city of Lviv Region.  

Currently, 46 metro stations in Kyiv serve as bomb shelters during air raids. “In the first months of the Russian invasion, over 40,000 people sought safety in Kyiv’s metro”, said Vitalii Klytchko.  

“As the whole world admires the resilience of people in Ukraine, we are proud to support the efforts of communal enterprises in Kyiv and other cities, that became the first responders to the needs of those affected by the war,” said IOM Ukraine’s Chief of Mission, Anh Nguyen.  

The 9 March night air raid in Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine lasted for almost seven hours. “For such long periods of time, the mattresses provided by IOM will be extremely useful, while the folding chairs and blankets will be in use even for shorter air raids,” said the head of Kyiv metro, Viktor Braginskyi.  

Funded by the European Union and the French Government, IOM provided the communal enterprise with over 10,000 folding chairs, 1,500 blankets and 1,500 mattresses. The same amount of assistance was also handed over to the metro in Kharkiv – the city that remains a frontline target of multiple attacks in Eastern Ukraine.  

Since the start of the Russian Federation’s 24 February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, IOM has supported about three million war-affected people in the country with different types of assistance.