LocationsKremenchuk is a community establishing pillars of support with assistance from UNDP and its international partners
Kremenchuk: a city of humanity and resilience
March 31, 2026
In the fifth year of the full-scale invasion, Kremenchuk, a city spanning both banks of the Dnipro River, is still bearing the brunt of Russian strikes targeting Poltava Oblast and its civilian infrastructure. Through the factory smoke, shelling, and the trials of war, the city stands as a model of resilience and the successful implementation of local initiatives.
The community welcomes internally displaced persons, medical colleges train new specialists, and spaces for creativity, education, and support continue to open. Resilience and compassion have become an inseparable part of daily life.
This spirit is reflected in a series of projects implemented by the Kremenchuk community in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine and its partners.
Tomorrow will get a little easier
Kremenchuk’s long history was forged at the crossroads of trade routes, cultures, and military events. In the 20th century, the city built its industrial muscle. Today, it continues to maintain its status as an industrial hub. Local enterprises supply products not only within Ukraine but also for export, keeping the city on the country’s economic map even in wartime.
Modern Kremenchuk is an industrial centre with a character tempered by labour and historical memory. The Dnipro River divides it into two halves: the industrial side on one bank contrasts with the quiet, cosy atmosphere of the other.
One of the most tragic days in the city’s recent history was 27 June 2022, when a Russian missile struck a shopping centre. Fire instantly engulfed the building, claiming the lives of 22 people.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the city’s industrial and energy infrastructure has been regularly shelled, leading to frequent disruptions in electricity, heating, and water.
Despite constant threats and destruction, Kremenchuk does not wallow in its pain, it supports others. The city is currently home to more than 31,000 internally displaced persons. With a population of 210,000, the influx of displaced people means that even during the war, the total number of people living in Kremenchuk has not significantly decreased.
In the evenings, the community often plunges into the darkness of blackouts. Roads are empty, and windows flicker with candles and battery-powered lights. People here live in constant readiness for potential missile strikes or drone attacks, clinging to the hope that tomorrow will be a little easier.
Helping locals and guests
On 24 February 2022, endless streams of people fleeing hostilities in other regions of Ukraine passed through Kremenchuk. Within the first hours of the invasion, a humanitarian headquarters was established. Sister cities from around the world sent hygiene products and children’s clothing, while a university dormitory became a shelter. Volunteers, psychologists, and entrepreneurs joined the effort spontaneously; some brought food and warm clothes, others met evacuation trains to hand water and food directly into the train cars.
Deputy Mayor Olha Usanova has been responsible for social protection in Kremenchuk for nine years. She defines her remit simply: everything concerning the people in the community. For Olha, Kremenchuk is more than a workplace. It is her hometown, one she cares about deeply, even recognizing fellow locals when travelling far away.
The war has challenged the community’s social care system, forcing it to address problems never encountered before. In July 2025, Olha explained, the Turbota Space [turbota (турбота) Ukrainian for “care” — Ed.] for Social Adaptation and Integration opened — a modern, barrier-free office created in cooperation with the European Union and UNDP under the auspices of the Ministry of Social Policy, Family, and Unity of Ukraine. It provides access to a variety of social services, offering answers to those in need.
This location is an example of how integrated social service centres work, bringing different types of assistance under one roof. The centre focuses on three main areas: support for veterans, families in difficult life circumstances, and those combating domestic violence. In just six months, Turbota has become a pillar of support for hundreds. Most often, the families of fallen soldiers come here, not for a formal service, but for attention, support, and the feeling that they are not alone in their grief.
Turbota was designed to ensure that everyone can find a safe place for conversation and recovery, featuring everything from a children’s room and private consultation offices to a conference hall and a training classroom equipped with different devices.
“It is important for people to talk to those who have had similar experiences. Often, human support is stronger than any official service,” Olha shared. “We didn’t want residents here to feel like they were in a government office. Turbota is about simplicity and accessibility.”
There are no service windows at Turbota. Instead, an administrator greets everyone and helps them find their way. Visitors have become so accustomed to the openness that they use the space for meetings, gatherings, or lectures.
Assistance still reaches those who need it most: older adults, people with disabilities, and residents of remote areas with limited mobility. Through cooperation with the EU and UNDP, the Kremenchuk community received a mobile social services vehicle. Equipped with tools and machinery for home care, palliative care, and in-kind support, it is effectively a social service centre on wheels. Between August and the end of 2025, the mobile team was contacted by 122 people who received 163 services.
Response times have been reduced significantly, allowing for a broader range of services. The mobile team is multidisciplinary, including a psychologist, a lawyer, a nurse, repair technicians, hairdressers, seamstresses, laundry workers, and a cobbler.
“In these cases, a well-coordinated mechanism is in place: the social worker coordinates help and assesses needs, the driver handles logistics, the technician fixes household problems, and the hairdresser provides haircuts,” Maryna Yemets, director of the Turbota Social Service Centre, said. “The mobile format increases trust in social services because it makes help accessible and timely.”
Staff share that the most memorable part of the job is the gratitude from people who simply feel they haven’t been forgotten. In one notable example, regular visits from a hairdresser do more than just provide grooming, they tangibly improve people’s mood and emotional state.
Security instead of fear
For two years, a Community Engagement Working Group, including city authorities, police, and civil society, has met at least quarterly or even more often when there’s a need for it to develop ideas to make the city safer and more comfortable. Meetings address specific challenges, from installing traffic lights at dangerous junctions to creating cycle lanes.
The working group initiated, for instance, the Safe Kremenchuk programme, which will be funded by the city’s budget.
“The patrol police developed a project with visualizations showing where they see cycle lanes in the city. Implementing them is a task for utility services in 2026,” Olha, who chairs the working group, said. “Thanks to this initiative, several traffic lights have been installed in Kremenchuk that work even during blackouts.”
Overall, “Safe Kremenchuk” is a three-year city programme aimed at enhancing security and community recovery during the war. It covers several key areas: safety education (safety classes, a cycling school), psycho-emotional support (recovery spaces, children’s holiday camps), information (lectures on vaccinations and road safety), and social support for veterans and the families of fallen soldiers. The programme promotes the protection of children’s rights, social support for vulnerable categories, and barrier-free access to services.
There are also spaces created specifically with children in mind. With financial support from the Government of Denmark, UNDP helped open a “green room” in Kremenchuk — a specially equipped location where law enforcement and psychologists work with children who are in conflict with the law, have witnessed crimes, or are survivors of them.
The room was designed for maximum comfort and safety. It is divided into two zones: in one, a psychologist speaks with the child, and in the other, police observe the conversation through a one-way mirror. All of the interactions are recorded on video to avoid needing to repeat interviews and cause re-traumatization.
Yevheniia Sviatna, a senior inspector in the juvenile prevention sector of the Kremenchuk District Police Department, has worked with children since 2023. She understands the weight of those first few minutes of communication all too well. That’s why even before an interview, everything is explained to the child, including the presence of cameras.
“Using this method, you can see the child’s state: whether they are comfortable or not, and establish contact,” Yevheniia said. “The room is equipped with everything we need, such as toys, building blocks, and human figurines, to make it easier to recreate the event the child experienced.”
Children almost always react to the space with surprise: “Wow, it’s so nice here!” or “Look at all the toys!”
Once, a girl entered the room, looked at the toys for a long time, and suddenly stopped by a large stuffed goose. “What’s his name?” she asked. When told he didn’t have one yet, she thought for a moment and said, “Let’s call him Valerchyk.”
Now, every child is introduced to Valerchyk the Goose and his story. Experts from other communities in Poltava Oblast also come to Kremenchuk for interviews using this method. Specialists say that more such rooms are needed, as they help children work through and process difficult experiences.
Preparing for challenges
The Volodymyr Lytvynenko Kremenchuk Medical College, which celebrated its 120th anniversary in 2024, is the city’s only vocational medical education institution. It is a vital training ground for junior medical staff from across the region.
“Virtually all the nurses, paramedics, and midwives in Kremenchuk are our graduates,” explained Svitlana Malyk, the college director.
The institution has survived several educational reforms, a pandemic, and now the full-scale invasion. In the early months of the war, they worked online, but as early as April, students returned to classrooms and studied in basement shelters. To improve the conditions for nearly 600 students, a Simulation and Training Centre was established in 2025 with support from the EU and UNDP.
What was an ordinary classroom a year ago is now a near-hospital block with modern equipment. It is home to “Anna,” a life-sized mannequin that can fully simulate critical conditions. She reacts to every action so students can see all their mistakes on a monitor, such as if they are pressing deep enough during chest compressions or if they are ventilating the lungs correctly.
“The old mannequins didn’t have these functions, so training wasn’t realistic,” Svitlana explained. “Now, they work with ‘Anna’ on scenarios as close to real life as possible and can prepare for situations that may await them in a hospital or on a call. Thanks to her, our graduates have become significantly more prepared.”
In addition to the modern mannequin, the room is equipped with models of arms for venous infusions, modules for catheterization, and models for practising skills on the femoral artery. The centre is not only students but also experienced specialists who practice here: medics from various hospitals in the city improve their qualifications at the college as well.
During 2025, with assistance from the EU and UNDP, the educational institution also received two modern computer labs, including 28 computers, multimedia equipment, and furniture. Currently, they dream of two additional mannequins: an infant and a teenager. Children have different resuscitation algorithms and different physiology, so a full-cycle resuscitation centre needs to practice with all age groups.
The new simulation centre has become a favourite place among students. They understand that such training facilitates feedback, as they see every mistake.
“With the old-style training dummies, the heart ‘started’ too easily. But here, everything is more realistic: you have to apply real force and act quickly, correctly, and technically,” the director added.
Fourth-year student Dmytro Belenko is a future paramedic whom “Anna” helps to master medical practices. Dmytro and his classmates learn what a first-line paramedic must be able to do: cardiopulmonary resuscitation, measure blood pressure, restore airway patency, place peripheral and suppository catheters, and transport a patient from the floor to a bed.
The young man still remembers how impressed his entire group was after the first lesson at the centre.
“We just stood there in shock. We had never had anything like this. The teacher said: you can touch everything here, try everything. I was very impressed by the monitor showing all the indicators, just like in a real intensive care unit. Simulations are not just for modern training, but they prepare us to react calmly where others might freeze up. This allows for higher quality skills practice,” Dmytro Belenko shared.
During his training at the hospital, Dmytro had to place a peripheral catheter on a real patient. If not for this training, he would have been nervous, but his hands remembered everything. For the college, this is not just modern equipment, but an opportunity in wartime conditions to become a platform that will strengthen the entire city’s health care system.
To continue finding strength
The Resilience Centre in Kremenchuk has long lived up to its name, the Place of Strength. For locals and displaced people, it is a pillar of support.
The centre has operated in the city since October 2024, created through an initiative by the Fishermen Club of Ukraine NGO and the Kremenchuk City Committee of Youth Organizations, with support from the EU, UNDP, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Ukraine. This space is equipped with everything necessary for conducting training events, seminars, workshops, and more. The total amount of support reached US$102,000. Among other things, they managed to renovate the premises and purchase furniture.
The principle of the Resilience Centre’s work is simple: anyone who needs support or has ideas for conducting their own events can come here.
Social workers and psychologists conduct daily classes on responsible parenting, training sessions for children and adults, art therapy, and group psychological sessions. In 2025, the centre provided more than 3,400 individual services and organized 128 group events attended by over 17,000 community members.
For example, nearly 70 teenagers joined the Volunteering School (one of the centre’s initiatives). For the wives of servicemen, the “Live, Act, Feel” project was organized. The youngest are introduced to Ukrainian culture within the Ethno-school. For older people, poetry readings and stress reduction classes during air raid alerts are arranged. In addition, the Resilience Centre’s psychologists help overcome long separations between military personnel and their families and help re-establish communication after they return from the front.
“We also specifically support displaced people: half of our specialists moved to Kremenchuk because of the war, they were looking for support themselves, and now they help others. Some happily report that this is a place where they felt like part of a community again,” Andrii Makarov, the head of the centre, said.
This is not just a building, but a place where people return to an active life. Consequently, visitors are distracted from life’s worries and find new friends. The plans are to continue attracting grant support to expand opportunities.
To shape the future
Artem Radionov is the head of the NGO Happy Family. Back in 2011, he teamed up with like-minded people to launch social initiatives in Kremenchuk, and in 2019, they officially registered the non-governmental organization. His team of 25 activists, with support from the EU and UNDP, launched the Hub of the Future in 2023. This is another initiative from Kremenchuk that has become a pillar of interest for thousands of citizens.
The hub is based on one of the streets in the central part of Kremenchuk, offering creative events for every taste: music intensives, jam sessions, or even recording one’s own song in a studio. However, this is not only a place for art. Within the educational block, there is a business school, as well as a photo and video school. Happy Family organizes camps for children and events for displaced people, as well as offering support for families in difficult life circumstances.
“Our initiative is for young people to find friends, fulfilment, and their place in Ukraine so they don’t want to go elsewhere,” Artem Radionov shared.
A truly unique example of cooperation at the Hub of the Future is at the Kremenchuk juvenile colony. The team regularly conducts creative and educational classes there to show an alternative path, a different model of life where there is room for creativity and success.
The hub has welcomed 4,350 visitors since it opened. Each of them brought their own stories and ideas here. For Artem, Kremenchuk is home. Despite many chances to leave, he always chose to stay and develop the city. Although many believe that Kremenchuk has a stern industrial character, the city has an active cultural and artistic heart.
“For us, the Hub of the Future is not just a project. It is a way to shape our city into a place where others would want to live,” Artem Radionov explained.
***
Kremenchuk during the war is not just factory chimneys and industrial noise. It is a city where help is not just numbers in reports, but human faces and stories: social services on wheels, spaces for care, hands-on medical training centres, and hubs for youth.
The city has not halted or had its spirit broken, new pillars are being built here. Between darkness and hope, Kremenchuk chooses to look towards the future.
This material was prepared as part of the flagship “EU4Recovery — Empowering Communities in Ukraine” partnership between UNDP and the EU.
Photo credit: Tetiana Shavlovska / Reporters / UNDP in Ukraine
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