"Support for expensive visits to Japan" Ukrainian women return home with evacuees

As Russia's military invasion of Ukraine continued, a Ukrainian woman living in Aichi Prefecture who returned to Japan with a family who had evacuated to Poland said, "Even if you want to evacuate to Japan, an expensive plane There are a lot of Ukrainians who can't afford to pay. I want them to come to Japan as soon as possible. "

Originally from Zhytomyr, a city in northwestern Ukraine, Ivanuk Lilya came to Japan 18 years ago and lives in Aichi prefecture with three children.

A family of four, a mother and sister, and her two younger sisters, who lived in Jitomil, fled to Poland as the attack intensified, and Lilya visited her own capital, Warsaw, in early March. I returned to Japan on the 13th with my mother and my sister's children.

The station in Warsaw was crowded with Ukrainian parents and children who had evacuated, and Polish mothers provided their strollers and other support.

Lilia said she set up an SNS group in Warsaw for other Ukrainians who have a family in Japan and connected with more than 40 people in two days.

On SNS, there were voices saying that he could not pay the expensive flight fee to go to Japan or that he could not make a reservation because the seats were full, and Mr. Lilya visited the Japanese Embassy in Warsaw on behalf of the group and arranged a charter flight. I asked for something like that, but it wasn't accepted.

Lilya searched for an airplane for five family members on her own and finally made a reservation, but on the day it was canceled and she bought another ticket again, so the total cost exceeded 1 million yen. It means that it took.

In addition, a PCR test before leaving Japan revealed that her sister was positive, and the four of them returned to Japan, leaving her sister behind.

Lilia returned to her home in Aichi prefecture with her mother with anxiety, but when she got off the taxi at home, the driver said, "I don't need money. Please eat delicious rice." "I almost cried when there were a lot of people like this in Japan," he said.

About 150 Ukrainians are now participating in the SNS group, and even after that, there are voices saying that they can not pay the plane fee, Mr. Lilya said, "The plane fee is more expensive than usual. Almost all the seats are full, so not everyone can fly. For those who want to come to Japan, we will send charter flights and cooperate with airlines to get seats, so we will come to Japan early. I want you to be able to do it. "