Limerick aid worker captures desperate plight of refugees fleeing Ukraine

A LIMERICK photographer and aid worker based in Ukraine has been documenting the harrowing stories of refugees as they scramble towards safer border countries.

Kieran McConville from the North Circular Road in Limerick city, forms part of a Concern assessment team that has been delivering humanitarian aid to Ukrainian refugees in Eastern Europe.

“It's likely that the number of people that have left Ukraine since the start of the conflict will soon reach three million,” the former RTÉ journalist told the Limerick Leader over the phone from Lviv, in Western Ukraine.

“What we are seeing now is that more and more people are moving west from the conflict zones who do not have many reserves and do not have a specific place to go,” he added.

While working as a cameraman and journalist in 2010, Kieran made a documentary about Limerick man Aengus Finucane, who was one of the founders of Ireland’s aid agency Concern Worldwide.

Kieran travelled with the Ennis Road Roman Catholic missionary to Haiti at the time of the earth-shattering earthquake that killed up to 220,000 people. He has been working with Concern ever since.

His work with the aid agency has seen him capture images across some of the world’s major events in Africa, Asia and across the Middle East, such as typhoons in the Philippines and famines in Sudan.

Having moved into the city of Lviv in Western Ukraine on Saturday, Kieran forms part of a four-person assessment team that talks to refugees and partner organisations, to set up a response.

“This is something that is going to be going on for quite some time,” he stated, explaining that so far, the team has assisted refugees coming into Slovakia, Hungary, Moldova, Romania and Poland.

“I met a woman in Slovakia, who had her two children in the car. Her husband had returned to Ukraine to sign up. They don’t know if they will ever see him again,” he said.

He encountered another woman, in her thirties, who was forced to leave Kyiv after saving her entire life for an apartment on a 32nd floor, following intense shelling from Russian forces.

Since moving into Lviv, Kieran has captured images of tens of thousands of displaced Ukrainians looking to depart through the city’s railway station.

Many of these are of mothers and children, following mandatory conscription being put in place for men aged between 18 and 60, who are forced to stay and enlist in Ukraine’s military.

“The area around Lviv was seen as something of a safe haven until now, but the missile attack that happened nearby on Saturday night has made people really nervous,” he stressed.

He admitted that the most recent refugees are those without family or friends in Europe.

“These latest evacuees will be more reliant on humanitarian aid,” he stressed, adding that post-assessment, Concern will deliver humanitarian assistance through cash grants and material support.

This includes hygiene kits, food packages, warm clothing, bedding and fuel. Concern is also helping displaced people with rent.

Technical and emergency staff are being deployed to help target “the most vulnerable people.”

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Kieran, along with his colleagues, are urging the people of Limerick to send cash to the people of Ukraine, as opposed to fixed goods.

Kieran stated that it has been amazing to see the generosity of people back home in Limerick.

“I have spoken to many people who have suffered extreme trauma and who are facing deep uncertainty. It makes a huge difference for them to know that people in other countries care and are willing to support them,” he concluded.

Support the people of Ukraine, by visiting concern.net/donate.