For the moment, the port city of Odessa in the south has been relatively spared, unlike cities on the south coast of the country such as Mariupol, Kherson, or even Mykolayiv, from which families and children arrive every day. They are fleeing Russian airstrikes on their cities.
With our special correspondents in Odessa, Clea Broadhurst and Jad El Khoury
In the city center of Odessa, a shelter houses a few rooms, dormitories, and a kitchen in order to provide the minimum for the children who arrive in Odessa every day.
” We saw children who had spent six days in a bunker as bombs fell over their heads. It was awful, really. Children understand what is happening, but they cannot understand the consequences. For them, the most important thing is to flee as quickly as possible “, explains Serhiy Kostin, the manager of the refuge.
14-year-old Sophia has just arrived from Mykolayiv: I was scared when we were in the bunker, it was cold there, we couldn’t see well inside. It’s painful to think back to when we were running for the shelter. Sitting there, for hours, spending nights in one place, with all of our neighbors, fearing that airstrikes will fall on our homes. »
►To read: War in Ukraine: “In two weeks, more than 300,000 refugees have arrived in Moldova”
“We are afraid of what can happen to us next”
Sophia’s aunt Tatiana fled with her and her 7-year-old daughter: The war destroyed all my plans for the future. We are completely confused and we are afraid of what can happen to us next. I am disabled, so I am even more afraid for my daughter. »
Diana is 8 years old, she and her mother arrived after the last bombing. ” Sometimes I’m scared, sometimes not. It was scary when it happened near us “says the little girl. And his mother added: Because it has become routine. »
These families, whose men remained fighting on the front lines, have only one hope, to return home one day to see their children grow up there.
►Listen: Ukraine: children and war