The city of Lviv has become the essential crossroads of the west of the country, where humanitarian aid and the reception of refugees come together. Today, some arrived from Sumy, a city shelled by the Russian army for a few days.
With our special correspondents in Lviv, Clea Broadhurst and Jad El Khoury
The national anthem sung by a group of men, hand on heart, resounds in the 9000 m² of the Palais des arts, which has become a gigantic hive where you can find food, basic necessities, clothes and bags of sleeping.
Yuri Popvych, the site manager, hasn’t stopped since the start of the war: “ Everything you see in front of you has already been filled and emptied many times. At first, all these products were given to us by locals, then it expanded to the Lviv region. And we receive a lot of things from many European countries. »
Parcels from the Palace of Arts are distributed to soldiers, but especially to refugees before they resume their journey. As is the case of Anna, accompanied by her two children who left the Kiev region after the bombardments. Her husband stayed there.
” We are afraid of a Russian victory, because we will become slaves. There would no longer be a Ukrainian nation. We want Europe to be as united as we are. Europe must help our people, our children, because we no longer have homes. Above all, we want to be heard. »
Leaving to come back better
In this cold and damp station, people wait relentlessly for a train that still does not arrive. Igor has been there for six hours now. “ I want to finish my studies in Poland before I can come back to Ukraine to rebuild my country. »
In turn, pianists try in their own way to bring comfort to these refugees who all hope to be able to return home one day, in a more united Ukraine than ever.
►Also listen: Accents from Europe – In Ukraine, the departure of refugees, the arrival of fighters