Central Asian migrants helping people in Ukraine
Ukraine is now my home: How migrants from Central Asia are helping a country that’s fighting military aggression
28.02.2026
Article published on the azattyqasia.org website
Kazakh “Yurts of Indestructibility”, Uzbek pilaf and humanitarian aid from the Tajik diaspora: People of Central Asian descent living in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities are extending a helping hand to those suffering around them. For many, Ukraine has become their second home – their children have grown up there and their parents buried there. They consider it their duty to support their fellow Ukrainians amid freezing cold weather, constant shelling and frequent power cuts.
“A country that welcomed me like one of the family”
Meat, carrots and onions are on a list of groceries that Saule Aliyeva buys for the Nezlamnosti Yurt. At home, she chops up the ingredients to make pilaf in the morning. Dozens of Kyiv residents line up to receive a hot lunch. Many of the capital’s apartment buildings are experiencing hours without power because the heating is cut off. This is a consequence of Russian air strikes on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure which have intensified over the winter months. Ordinary citizens are freezing in their homes and unable to cook hot meals as there’s no gas or electricity.
“People come here to charge their phones and get warm. We give them some delicious Kazakh tea and cook pilaf two or three times a week”, says Saule.
The “Point of Invincibility” in Kyiv’s Shevchenko Park was opened in a traditional nomadic dwelling during the first year of the war. “Yurts of Indestructibility” have appeared in several other cities. Daulet Nurzhanov, a Kazakh philanthropist and co-founder of the Kusto Group agricultural holding company, paid for the structures and furnishings, which were erected and now maintained by members of the Kazakh diaspora in Ukraine such as Saule.
Saule Aliyeva has been living in Ukraine for 35 years. She was born in Aktobe and graduated from the Polytechnic Institute in Tomsk. She then worked as an engineer at a flight school in her home country before moving to Ukraine with her husband in 1991. For her, Ukraine has become her second home.
“Kazakhstan is my native land but Ukraine is now home to me, to my husband and to my son. In my 35 years in the country, I have never heard anyone say a bad word about me”, she says.
Yurts in Bucha, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Dnipro, Odesa, Sloviansk and Lviv provided help to thousands of Ukrainians during the first few months of the war. People charged their mobile devices, warmed themselves and enjoyed refreshing tea and tasty baursaks. Later, once Ukraine had stabilised its energy supplies, many yurts were dismantled and put into storage. Only those in Kyiv and Dnipro have remained where they form an interesting part of the cities’ landscape.
With the winter intensification of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy system, the yurt in the capital has once again become a “Point of Invincibility”.
“Our yurt is warm – it has a heater. There is also an area where you can plug in and charge your phones. We have a children’s corner where kids can come to read and draw together”, says Saule as she leads a tour of the yurt, showing off some of the children’s illustrations of a beautiful Kazakh yurt, stacked on a small, low table.
“Ukraine has always been good to me”
The head of the Uzbek diaspora in Ukraine, Shakhobiddin Yusupov, lives in Kharkiv, the country’s second most populous city, situated near the Russian border. In the early days of the invasion, Russian troops stood on the outskirts of Kharkiv and even broke through into the city limits.
Daily shelling destroyed thousands of buildings but Russian attempts to storm the city failed. In September, Ukrainian forces carried out a successful counteroffensive, liberating most of the occupied Kharkiv region, and removing a direct threat to the city. But the attacks have continued.
Yusupov has been helping Ukrainians in need since the early days of the conflict. He recalls rumours of an impending invasion that began circulating at the beginning of February 2022. Shakhobiddin and his family decided to remain in Kharkiv but prepared for the worst by buying essential supplies.
“Around 15 February, I heard rumours that war was about to break out. I spoke to my children about it. We had a small farm, so we began preparing meat and also bought flour and oil which we stored in our cellar. Most Ukrainians didn’t believe that war was coming and as a result many were unprepared. People came to us from all over: we provided food for the hospital, the army and the elderly”, said Yusupov.
The war continued, gradually developing into a prolonged stalemate. Yusupov says he now serves pilaf once a week. During the first two years of the conflict, he cooked a huge pot every day, then three times a week.
“People have already adapted to the new normal. There are four-year old children who have known nothing but war. People have got used to how things are”, he said.
Shakhobiddin came to Ukraine in 1996 to earn some money at the invitation of a friend. He liked this new country and the friendliness of its people so much that he decided to stay permanently and bring his relatives with him. Yusupov and his family make a living by preparing eastern food.
“First, we started cooking fast food, then samsa. In 1997, we showed people how to make puff pastry samsa with minced meat. After that, we opened a café, then a restaurant and later a hotel, which has led to 30 years of work in the service industry”, he explains. Shakhobiddin considers it his duty to help the Ukrainian people in these desperate times.
“My children grew up and got married here – even my parents are buried here. I feel indebted to Ukraine, having spent half of my life in this country. Ukraine has always been good to me”.
Yusupov says that since the war began, few migrants from Central Asia have stayed in the country. They are mostly those who have lived here for decades and started families.
Terry Sary, a native of Kyrgyzstan, who has lived in Ukraine for many years, has noticed that people have started to go back over time. “When the war started, the Kyrgyz embassy evacuated its citizens, not all, but around 90% of them. Those who worked here have gradually returned. There are fewer of them here now than before the war”, he says.
People from Tajikistan are also lending a helping hand to Ukrainian citizens. Tajik migrant workers in European countries are collecting money and goods and sending them to the diaspora in Ukraine.
Clothing is also being distributed to those in need, with the money raised being used to cover the cost of cooking hot meals, which on the advice of Kyiv’s Mayor, Vitaly Klitschko, are being provided to the city’s energy workers, says Ilhom Yokubov, a Tajik national living in Lithuania.
“Ukraine has welcomed Tajik citizens, particularly those who were experiencing problems with the regime in their native land. We remember the unconditional support and the kindness shown by the Ukrainian people. Sadly, today, they are going through desperate times: freezing temperatures, power cuts and crucially an unjust war. We believe it is the duty of Tajiks to offer support in return for all the good that Ukraine’s Government and its people have done for them”, said Yokubov.
