Iefimerida visited the large Medicaid border crossing and wrote about the "caravans" of refugees from Ukraine crossing, in extremely adverse conditions, into Polish territory.
A few kilometers further north is the village of Kortsova, which also borders Ukraine and is an important gateway for refugees from war zones. There, and specifically in Mlini, a giant camp has been set up for the refugees, inside a shopping center - "mammoth" - maybe three times the size of the largest we have in Greece.
Thousands of refugees in a mall
According to the managers of the center, the initial plan was to accommodate about 200 people in this commercial. Now, there are thousands of guests. And where the signs for offers and signs of Zara, Nike and other brands were, today there are messages and instructions posted in Ukrainian, and in other languages, in order for refugees to find their way.
As many as there are thousands of ranches, so many, even more, personal uprooting stories. The vast majority of the refugees housed in the giant mall are women. Little girls, teenagers, middle-aged and elderly. The youngest ones hold their mobile phones as amulets in their hands, as they can communicate with their own, in Ukraine.
Ukrainians talk to iefimerida about their drama
"We talk to our father every day, we try to have contact as often as possible. That's fine - this is what he tells us. "He stayed behind to fight for the freedom of our homeland, for the freedom of Ukraine," Anastasia Vasilieva, a 20-year-old from Kharkov, told iefimerida. On the three ranches that are "glued", next to her, are her little sister, her mom and their aunt.
As he explains, "yesterday we came to Poland, through Lviv, and today they brought us here to the mall. There are some chances to go to the Czech Republic, says our mom. But for the time being we have no idea what we are doing "emphasizes Anastasia who until recently studied at the National University of Kharkov.
Without asking her, she pulls out her mobile phone to show us photos from Kharkov. "We have been running in the basement for the last few days. We heard rockets crashing on our heads. We were very scared and especially my little sister. "Every day sirens, rockets, basements," he says.
Her voice starts to break. What we understand her to say is that these are the last pictures she saw from Kharkiv, as they hurriedly transported her family - without the father - to the train. The last images she has in mind of her birthplace are those of destruction. Burnt buildings, burned vehicles, lost dreams. "We hope the war will end and we will be able to return to our homeland," are the young Ukrainian's last words.
The image shown by Anastasia in iephemeris:
"I do not want to stay in Poland. I want to go back to Kyiv, to our parents "
The story of Sasha is equally "heavy". A 21-year-old Ukrainian from Kyiv, free from military service, who has a passion for mathematics and physics, which - until recently - he taught to students, helping his family financially.
"I'm from Kyiv, the capital. We left 5 or 6 days ago, I'm not sure. It had bombings, but not on our way. "The anti-aircraft guns, however, were whistling just above our house", says Sasha to iefimerida.gr. With him is his little brother - who did not want to pose for the camera, only 13 years old. Asked if they travel alone, Sasha says "yes, we are alone. Our grandparents in Kyiv could not move and our parents had to stay with them. We were told we had to leave immediately, and so it happened, "he added, his eyes a little heavier.
By the day they left, he says, "the major disasters were not in the city, but around the center. "On the next road from us, however, we had a house that had been bombed and destroyed, while there were also cars that had been engulfed in flames." Sasha claims that they talk to their family every day. "We communicate as much as we can with our parents. It is in the shelters. Or rather, they are not exactly shelters, we have no shelters. "We have basements in apartment buildings and some other buildings and stations," he notes.
Sasha and his brother believe that their parents will not follow them. "They will only come if things get very bad," he says, indirectly expressing hope that they will soon be able to return.
Asked where they will be transported, the young Ukrainian says:
"We will probably be in Warsaw in two days. We have no relatives there, but they said they would take us there. But I do not want to be here in Poland, I want Kyiv, our place and our parents. I want to return as soon as the hostilities stop. Our parents no longer have jobs, obviously they can not work. I used to work too, but now there is nothing. But again, I want us to return home. "
Source: iefimerida.gr