DNIPRO, Ukraine (AP) — Across eastern Ukraine, shelters and transit hubs reflect the human toll of a war now in its fourth year. Over 4.5 million people are officially registered as internally displaced, many arriving with little more than a bag.
Shared by six or more, these temporary spaces – often drafty disused dorms, tents and abandoned basements — are quickly transformed into crowded shelters. Volunteers set up field kitchens and hang curtains made out of old sheets for privacy. With every evacuee comes a quiet reckoning.
Families who once led stable lives now navigate a fragile in-between: no longer at home, not yet resettled. Children are wrapped in donated blankets while elderly evacuees wait in long lines for news of a new placement.
A cat walks on a table at a hostel for displaced people in Dnipro, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A man works to dry washed clothing at a hostel for the displaced in Dnipro, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Mykola, 84, who is blind, waits for his wife in a corridor of a hostel for the displaced in Dnipro, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
People eat at a hostel for the displaced in Dnipro, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A woman makes her bed at the hostel for displaced persons in Dnipro, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A man using a cane walks into his room at a hostel for the displaced in Dnipro, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A girl watches videos at a hostel for the displaced in Dnipro, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Psychologist Veronika Chumak speaks to Oleksandra Bezshapko, 91, at a hostel for the displaced in Dnipro, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Valentina Khusak, 86, sits in her room at a hostel for displaced persons in Dnipro, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Oleksandra Bezshapko, 91, sits in the corridor of a hostel for displaced people in Dnipro, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Valentyna, 75, tests at a hostel for displaced people in Dnipro, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
An elderly woman uses a cane to walk to her bed at a hostel for displaced people in Dnipro, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Elderly women walk in a corridor at a hostel for the displaced in Dnipro, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
More than 13% of Ukrainian homes have been damaged or destroyed since the invasion began, sending thousands more to these shelters each month. Every arrival adds strain to a relief system already strained by relentless Russian bombardment.
This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
