Beregsurány / Gödöllő. Ten years old Andrei Kostjuk has fallen asleep on the camping bed.
Ahead is the first night on the peace side of the border in temporary accommodation in the school gym. There is almost two weeks of war behind us.
Mum Anastasia Kostyuk takes care of Andrei as he sleeps with his pet, the turtle Ilja. Ilja has been brought across the border in a plastic box with little water at the bottom.
There is not much else in the family involved.
– We took the backpacks that had been advised to pack in the bomb shelter in case of evacuation.
Anastasija Kostjuk says that the decision to leave was made quickly. He spoke one morning after the start of the war with a friend who was hiding in another city in a bomb shelter.
After the call, he decided to leave with his children. Better safe abroad than in a bomb shelter with three children if Russia also attacked their neighborhoods.
The man remained in his hometown of Ivano-Frankivsk. He works in a metal factory that manufactures shields for use by the Ukrainian military. Due to the general mobilization, men between the ages of 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave the country.
– Mom, go to the bathroom! the sleepy girl gets up from the second camping bed.
Anastasia is wearing Darijalle6, shoes and goes to take his daughter to the outdoor huts.
Kostjuki’s family crossed border with Beregsurány, Hungary, one of the quieter crossing points.
One thing has been fixed since the first days of the war. Ukrainian refugees are no longer dependent on their own assistance when they cross the border into Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Romania or Slovakia.
Those who come across the border are picked up from the border crossing point for temporary accommodation by car. Newcomers immediately receive a bun and warm tea. Queues at borders have been reduced from days to hours.
There are now also volunteer crossing points on the Ukrainian side. In Beregsurány, Hungary, there are more helpers than refugees in some places.
Volunteer helpers and the police also monitor the crossing points to ensure that people exploiting refugees are not present.
Some of the refugees have reported on taxi rides on a rampage. Even worse can happen when hundreds of thousands of women and children seek refuge without their own car.
Even in the first days of the war, walkers had to wait even days to cross the border, when the Ukrainian side of the border slowed entry from the country in the midst of a confusing situation. Many Ukrainian foreigners could not even enter the queue due to either a missing EU visa or skin color.
Still, the journey to the border is difficult. There are bad traffic jams and checkpoints on the Ukrainian roads to the west. Trains don’t even need a ticket, but they’re crowded. The windows are covered and the lights are out so that Russia does not see the target.
New crossings have been opened for refugees who come to walk over. The acute humanitarian emergency at the border has eased, but there is a historic refugee crisis ahead.
One million people fled Ukraine in the first week of the war. The same pace will continue this week. People are fleeing faster inside Europe than ever after World War II, says UN refugee commissioner Filippo Grandi.
The number of refugees on Tuesday was two million. That is just the beginning. There are still more than 40 million people in Ukraine, and Russia is only stepping up attacks on civilians.
Julia Jednakova is traveled with his two daughters from Odessa, a Black Sea coastal city in southern Ukraine. Adelina is five months old and Anastasia five years old.
The spouse and father of the children live in Dortmund, Germany. You should get there, but Jednakova has no idea how.
He asks to show how far away Dortmund is from the mobile map application. Jednakova is surprised to hear that European railway companies are offering free travel to Ukrainian refugees.
However, it is already evening. Jednakova first decides to stay with her daughters in temporary accommodation.
The situation of the family is typical of many who have fled Ukraine. There is already a family member or acquaintance in an EU country to go to.
Volunteers from all over Europe, including Finland, have announced their readiness to take Ukrainian refugees into their own homes.
There is a great desire to help, which is also evident on the Hungarian side of the border with Ukraine. Volunteers provide food, clean up the temporary accommodation and play with Ukrainian children who have crossed the border in the temporary gym of the school gym.
But there is an aid marathon ahead.
Last week, EU countries made a political decision that those who fled Ukraine would receive a temporary residence permit in the EU. They have the right to work, go to school and receive health care.
Now Europe needs to turn the political decision into practice and find more permanent accommodation, jobs, school places and crèche groups for all newcomers.
The current refugee situation is in many ways reminiscent of the resettlement of evacuees. Above all, refugees are fleeing the war in European Guest Rooms, sofas and vacant summer cottages.
Anastasia Rudenko would like to to be at home in Kiev defending their country from Russian invasion and not at the Hungarian border crossing.
But Rudenko’s younger child Alexander is 1.5 years old. No one of that age can be left alone. Only one parent can be on the front.
He says Alexander and ten-year-old Polina are distressed by the constant air alarms and bomb shelters in Kiev. The children slept restlessly and were crying.
– I left because of the children, Rudenko says.
Rudenko was a successful interior designer in his former life, before the war. He shows on his cell phone pictures of the family’s apartment in Kiev. The style is Scandinavian light.
The living room has a fireplace. On the roof terrace, loungers await spring.
– And now I’m a refugee, Rudenko is in pain.
Aleksandr leaves his lap again to escape. Rudenko runs after.
Daughter Polina, 10, draw at the table. The drawing shows the house. Maybe home. You can’t ask more specifically, because Polina doesn’t – quite understandably – care to talk to a journalist.
Ukraine will not escape not only Ukrainians but also foreigners living in Ukraine.
Nigerian David Owolewa19 is a medical student whose studies in the city of Kharkov were interrupted by the Russian invasion war.
Owolewa set off on the same day the war began. He says the bombings felt like the whole city was shaking.
– As late as Wednesday, the day before the war, remote lectures were normal, Owolewa says.
Owolewa crossed the border into Hungary as he heard that Africans could not cross the anti-Polish border. He is not sure whether the reason was racism or the fact that his passport did not have a Schengen visa.
Even before the war, Ukrainian citizens did not need a visa to enter the EU. Nigerians, on the other hand, need it.
The obstacle was not the Polish side of the border but the Ukrainian side of the border crossing point. In the early days of the war, there was complete chaos on the border. In the first days of the war, Ukrainian border guards also made it difficult for women and children to cross in the midst of an uncertain situation.
Owolewa headed for the border with Hungary and crossed. The border was successfully crossed without a visa. He shows the Ukrainian exit stamp on his passport.
Now he is preparing to leave again. Back to Lagos, Nigeria, where he is from.
– I can no longer be a burden to these people, says Owolewa, referring to the Hungarians who housed him.
Beregsurány border crossing point in the temporary accommodation, the Ilja turtle has been put back in a plastic box. Kostjuki’s family is trying to continue their journey to Spain. Acquaintances live near Barcelona.
That is the only plan at this point.
The man left in Ukraine and the grandparents of the children are concerned. Anastasija Kostjuk is pleased that her own grandmother is no longer alive. The grandmother does not see the Russians – her own family – killing the Ukrainians.
– Grandmother was originally Russian herself, Kostjuk says.
Little Alexander Rudenko, who is running after him, is still waiting for his acquaintance from Ukraine in temporary accommodation.
They then continue together to Vienna, Austria, where Rudenko’s sister lives. During peace, the family often flew there on vacation.
But he does not want to live in Vienna but wants to return to Kiev as soon as possible.
According to Rudenko, the only option for Ukraine is to fight. Defend the country from Russian invasion, even if the victory is anything but certain.
Russia’s attacks on civilians are accelerating.
Rudenko is constantly following the news on his phone. Rudenko has already read about how people’s opinion in Finland has turned to NATO membership since Russia launched a major offensive.
– The power of Finland! he says and raises his fist. I wish the same to Ukraine.
Rudenko is in favor of the Ukrainian leadership: NATO should definitely declare a no-fly zone over Ukraine. NATO has not done so because of fears of a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia.
That would mean world war.
– Isn’t it already? Rudenko answers.
You can discuss 9.3. until 11 p.m.