A family arrives at the main train station around noon, they were in Budapest when Russia invaded Ukraine, explained Tanja Wehsely, managing director of Volkshilfe Wien. “We are preparing for the fact that we will receive the people who come and divide them up into quarters with other aid organizations and hopefully soon with the Ministry of the Interior.”
Arrival of the first refugees from Ukraine
The first war refugees from Ukraine arrived at Vienna’s main train station on Friday and were taken care of. Meanwhile, in her home country, events are unfolding. The fighting continues, hundreds of dead are reported.
Search for places
According to Wehsely, rooms are now needed – for example in barracks – to accommodate people quickly. “The situation in the quarters that we already have in Vienna is simply difficult – because of Corona. There are already restrictions in place, such as not so high occupancy. We can’t just add people to that.”
Wehsely assumes that the federal government and the city of Vienna will soon support it. Until then, the organizations will be on the move at the train stations. The Ukrainians in Vienna also want to support them. They have set up their own crisis management team, says Anna Pattermann, herself a Ukrainian, on the sidelines of a demonstration on Heldenplatz. “We temporarily need places where people who arrive can stay. So we decided to do something to help the Ukrainians.”
Viennese in Ukraine in an interview
Conversation with the Viennese businessman Alfred Praus, who decided to leave Kiev on Friday morning.
Wiener reports from the Ukraine
Furthermore, there are still Viennese in Ukraine. For example, the entrepreneur Alfred Praus, who is married to a Ukrainian and has a son. He lives in Kiev, following fighting reached the capital he fled to a place south of the city. “We were woken up at 4:30 a.m. by shots, the sound of rockets, and then we packed the suitcases that had already been prepared, quickly got into the car and left Kiev heading south.”
In Vienna, meanwhile, people are showing solidarity with Ukraine. The flag of Ukraine was hoisted at the town hall. Wiener Linien displayed “Give Peace a Chance” on their bus stop signs. The second team of Wiener Austria, the Young Violets, removed the lettering of the Russian sponsor Gazprom from their jerseys.