ABSTRACT The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 generated the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II, with displacement strongly feminised as women and children fled under conditions of uncertainty and fear. This article examines how gendered networking practices supported refugee survival in Romania by enabling rapid social capital formation through digitally mediated support. Methodologically, the study combines qualitative content analysis of posts from the Facebook group United for Ukraine (UfU) between March and June 2022 with media analysis. Posts were coded by request/offer type, involved actors, engagement and status markers (e.g., #solved/#unsolved), and triangulated with media coverage of major reception sites such as the Isaccea and Albița border crossings and Bucharest's North Railway Station. Findings show that UfU functioned as a gender‐sensitive survival infrastructure, with Romanian women volunteers serving as key social investors, facilitating access to housing, transportation, childcare, medical aid and employment. These interactions generated bonding, bridging and linking social capital and mitigated risks such as fraud and trafficking through collective vigilance and connections to formal institutions. In conversation with Uses and Gratifications Theory, the article argues that refugees and hosts used UfU to reduce uncertainty, secure belonging and coordinate action, demonstrating how digital media can enable gendered civic innovation during crisis displacement.
Sorina Voiculescu (2026) studied this question.