report
Slovakia: Kosice, crossroads for refugees heading for the European Union
Audio 01:16
Ukrainian refugees are seen at the train and bus station in Kosice, eastern Slovakia, on March 10, 2022. AFP - PETER LAZAR
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
Ten million people have fled their homes in Ukraine, according to the UN.
Many refugees are heading west, passing through Slovakia.
A very popular route.
Advertising
Read more
With our special correspondent in Košice,
Alexis Bedu
Coming from the loudspeakers on the platform, the messages are in Ukrainian.
The train for Bratislava is about to leave.
Inside, entire families.
Every day, about 10,000 people pass through Slovakia, especially through Košice, the country's second largest city about 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
It is from here that refugees can take a train and go further into the European Union.
Margarita is in her fifties.
She explains that her house was destroyed in the bombings
in Lugansk, Donbass
.
She left her mother there who, she says, would rather die than leave.
“I promised myself not to speak Russian anymore”
Come what may, they seek to reach the west.
In this family with three children, Tatiana, the grandmother, has her arms full of bags.
“
We wanted to stay in Košice because people are nice here, but we were told there was no work, so we are going to Gelina, in central Slovakia.
We don't know anyone there
," she said.
Margarita from Lugansk trembles with emotion.
In perfect Russian, she expresses her anger at
Vladimir Putin
.
“
I decided to cut ties with all my Russian friends.
As you can see I speak Russian but I promised myself not to speak it anymore.
Now I'm going to learn Ukrainian
,” she says.
She brandishes her mobile phone and shows the photo of a bombed building.
Last snapshot taken before an exile, with no return date.
►Also read: They will wait for peace, a Ukrainian refugee family on the Slovak side
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_EN
Ukraine
Slovakia
Refugees