Another significant group of project beneficiaries are people who were internally displaced from the occupied territories of Donbass between 2014 and 2020 and came to the territory controlled by Ukraine. Many had Ukrainian passports, but their documents were lost, destroyed, or left behind when they left the Non-Government Controlled Territories (NGCA). Ukraine has not had access to identity data files located in the NGCA since 2014, so many of these people resorted to applying for recognition as stateless persons under the SDP. Currently, many of them are stuck in the war zone and unable to leave. One of them, Oleksandr, was able to leave the occupied Makarovsky district of the Kyiv region together with members of his church and is now in Ternopil, helping newly arrived refugees. His documentation and citizenship status remain unclear. Another large group of beneficiaries is made up of people who came to Ukraine with their parents at a young age after 1991. Many of those supported by the project are members of minority groups, including Roma, and come from very complex family backgrounds in which parents or guardians never resolved their children’s lack of documentation. Upon reaching the age of 16, these young people could not obtain a Ukrainian passport because they lacked any documentation or proof of family links. One of the project’s beneficiaries, Natalia, currently finds herself in the war zone in the city of Sumy with two children aged two and five years old. She has no way out. She is in dire need of support, without access to food, baby food, and personal hygiene products. She is completely reliant on the support of local volunteers." European Network on Statelessness, Amidst the unspeakable awfulness of the conflict in Ukraine we should not forget the particular protection needs of stateless people, 11 March 2022 "In addition to these significant in-situ stateless populations, there are asylum-seekers, refugees, and migrants (and their children) who were residing in Ukraine and were stateless before leaving their countries of origin (e.g., Palestinians, Kuwaiti Bidoon, Kurds); or who may have since become stateless due to displacement, discrimination or gaps in nationality laws, State succession, or deprivation of nationality practices." European Network on Statelessness, Briefing: Stateless people and people at risk of statelessness forcibly displaced from Ukraine, 10 March 2022 "The last census in 2001 recorded 82,550 stateless people in Ukraine. In 2021, UNHCR estimated that 35,875 people in Ukraine were stateless or had ‘undetermined nationality’. However, only 6,047 stateless people were legally residing in Ukraine at the end of 2021. Approximately 10-20% of the estimated 400,000 Romani people living in Ukraine are stateless or at risk of statelessness. Additionally, 55% of children born in Donetsk and Luhansk and 88% of children born in Crimea were reported to lack Ukrainian birth certificates or personal documents, putting them at risk of statelessness." UN OCHA – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Ukraine - Humanitarian Response Plan 2022, 11 February 2022 “Problems in civil documentation persist for the population in NGCA, facing multiple challenges in identity, civil status and property documentation, impacting every aspect of life, limiting access to services and entitlements and freedom of movement. This includes 68,240 children (as of mid-2021) residing in NGCA, who do not possess a birth certificate of a recognized state and are hence under risk of statelessness.” UNHCR – UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Strengthened protection for stateless people in Ukraine: 737 stateless persons applied to determine their status in 2021, 31 January 2022 “31 January 2022, Kyiv, Ukraine. – In 2021, Ukraine has made impressive progress in addressing statelessness in the country. The State Migration Service (SMS) of Ukraine successfully rolled out a new stateless determination procedure after the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted the Resolution “On some issues of recognition as a stateless person” in April 2021. Furthermore, in December, the Parliament 63