Installed, Sunday, February 27, on cots in the middle of a gigantic warehouse transformed in an emergency into a center for refugees from the war in Ukraine, in Korczowa, Poland, the Zhyvaha family is exhausted. Vitali, 52, the father, Lena, 39, the mother, and their three daughters are struggling to sleep following more than thirty-six hours of a grueling journey that took them from Boryspil, in the surroundings from Kiev to this border town in the far east of Poland. ” It was horriblesays Lena, trying to retrace their journey with difficulty. These last hours seem like a rubber band, we forget. »
Like most of the refugees around them, the family made the decision to flee on Friday February 25, “time to pack”, says Arina, the eldest, from the height of her 12 years. His mother continues: “We managed to get on a train that left at 8 p.m. from Kiev, it was crowded but luckily we got two berths. » For five people. After a few hours of the trip to Lviv, the big city in western Ukraine, the obligatory lights were extinguished to cross a confrontation zone. “We were even forbidden to check our phones, the train continued at very low speed, while we saw and heard shots all around us”she says, still terrified.
Huge traffic jam
Arrived Saturday morning in Lviv, the Zhyvaha are however not at the end of their sentence. Buses lead well to the border, located 70 km away, but they are taken by storm. “Finally, we were able to find one on Saturday evening. » Under police escort, he was able to pass through the gigantic traffic jam that has become all the roads connecting Lviv to Poland: “There were 40 km of traffic jams, and we saw people walking with their children on the side of the road. » Arrived at the border on Saturday evening, “a chaos”awaits them. “At least 5,000 people were fighting to get through”, says Vitali. Ukrainian customs officers are always careful to prevent men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country.
How long will the Ukrainian authorities be able to maintain such strict controls in the face of ever-increasing numbers of refugees? The Polish authorities announced on Sunday that they had already welcomed 213,000 people since the start of the conflict, but according to various testimonies, they would still be tens of thousands waiting on the other side of the border. Despite his 52 years, Vitali, a dentist by training, has, in any case, been able to pass by arguing for his three daughters.
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