Ukraine: these refugees who walk for kilometers to cross the Polish border

Marion Gauthier (in Medyka), edited by Laura Laplaud 07:42, February 28, 2022

REPORT

Does Vladimir Putin really have his finger on the nuclear button?

The Russian president announced to put his deterrent force on alert, an "irresponsible" behavior for NATO, "unacceptable" for Washington.

In Ukraine, the head of diplomacy remains firm, his country will not capitulate.

All men between the ages of 18 and 60 are called upon to take up arms.

Many women leave the country to shelter their families.

For the moment, the United Nations has identified 368,000 Ukrainian refugees since the launch of the Russian offensive on Thursday, more than half of whom have entered Poland.

In Medyka, south of the Polish-Ukrainian border, many refugees arrive on foot.

Women and children flee

It is one of the main crossing points to arrive in Poland.

If the traffic jams are numerous, many refugees also arrive on foot.

A continuous flow of bundled up silhouettes, mostly women and children.

They tell of the sound of sirens and bombs at home, replaced here by the rolling of suitcases on the pavement.

she seemed lost.

She is 9 months pregnant and holds her 7-year-old daughter by the hand.

"There were the planes, then they took our men to go to war. We took 10 minutes to take things and leave," she says.

"What I have on me is all I have left. There is nothing to be relieved: I will give birth soon, all I want is to be with my husband, at home. "

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26, 32 kilometres, most walked for hours, carried bags too big for this journey, and too small to contain the life they left behind.

But it was the wait, just before arriving in Poland, that marked this other mother: "We stayed up for 8 hours queuing... There were maybe 500 of us. I thought the crowd was going to break my children's legs. I thought we would never get out of it," she breathes.

32 kilometers covered on foot

Soups, clothes and treatments are offered to them but the journey continues.

Shuttles are planned to take them to the nearest town, Przemysl, where they find friends or family or are spread out over the territory.

Oksana finds her mother, her children, her nephews in a crowd of haggard looks and weary shoulders, near mounds of clothes and the smoke of soups prepared by volunteers.

"I'm fine now but the children have walked 32 kilometers to the border, they look exhausted, their feet hurt," she says. 

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She keeps her hands in her pockets and her eyes downcast.

"There are so many people, it's not possible," repeats his mother, Anna.

She shakes her head wrapped in a kerchief, tears run down her deep wrinkles.

She holds against her heart a small damaged sorter, in her hand, a plastic bag ready to burst. 

"We had to flee right away because there is a military site near our house. It's my only treasure, the documents from the house, some papers, that's all... all I have left," says she cries.

"I am 64 years old, I only have that left as a heritage."

This family was able to find each other, even if they are far from their land.

Their brother stayed in Ukraine.