Korczowa, Przemysl Glówny The little boy with his oversized white eight on the dark jumper unerringly reaches into the box and grabs the blue fabric whale. His mother shows him a giraffe and a mouse, but he sticks to his new friend with the confidence of a six-year-old. The mother smiles at him. He shouldn’t know how sad she is. Her face is pale, her eyes are tired and exhausted.
She has two pink suitcases with her and a buggy for her even smaller, maybe three-year-old son, when she crosses the Ukrainian-Polish border to safety from Russia’s war of aggression.
Here in Korczowa, just to the southeast on the Polish-Ukrainian border, it’s usually busy. Today, however, the huge market hall has long served as an arrivals hall. The outlets of Zara and Mango are empty, only the bathroom manufacturer Kaldeweit has sinks and bathtubs that sparkle. Shops serve as storage for cosmetics, towels and blankets, for groceries and toys or as a small buffet with rice and vegetables.
Volunteers help the stranded, soldiers of the Polish army sort and distribute relief supplies. A bent over old man asks for some shampoo, his wife for some cream. In front of the shop windows, women and children sit in their jackets on the loungers, eat something, do puzzles or play Lego, some sleep quietly and wait following all the kilometers they have covered.
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At the moment, many loungers remain empty, families find out regarding the onward journey in the lobby, others are already dragging their suitcases outside to the bus. On Monday it was still difficult to get through, as Steffen Krollmann, head of workers’ welfare in Frankfurt am Main, reports. He spontaneously brought medicines and bandages with colleagues and wants to take people with him to Germany. “Hardly any people come,” he says.
But Russia has long since targeted the cities in western Ukraine. It seems only a matter of time before the suffering and the war will make the people in Ukraine increasingly seek protection towards the Polish border.
What contribution can the EU countries make?
And so Europe is faced with the question: How can these people be helped? The Polish Transport Minister Andrezej Adamczk discussed this with his colleagues from Germany, France, Austria and the Czech Republic before they looked at the situation at the border on Saturday. The EU Transport Commissioner Adina Valean was also there, as were the national railway bosses.
The group first sat in a conference room at the Hilton Airport Hotel in Kraków on Friday evening. The Ukrainian colleague was connected – and suddenly President Volodymyr Zelenskiy leaned into the camera. “Hey guys!” he called, putting his arm around his transport minister’s shoulders in a friendly manner. In his military gear, he explained to Kraków that he was sitting next door and wanted to say thank you for the support. His audience stood and applauded. The President radiated optimism.
His minister reported on the destroyed infrastructure, lack of water in the cities, and children in need. There are only a few undestroyed traffic routes. This makes escape and the transport of relief supplies more difficult.
Poland has already taken in 1.5 million people seeking help. What contribution can and should the other EU countries make?
Ukrainians do not need a visa in Europe, they use scheduled trains. Currently, the ID is sufficient as a ticket. Not only do they arrive in Poland, some of them also continue on to Berlin. The “bottleneck” is there in Germany, Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) told his colleagues and called for “a European distribution key. We have to be prepared.” The free movement of refugees is not up for discussion yet – but for how long?
There are no agreements at European level
It is the task of the interior ministers to clarify which nation, which federal state will help how many war refugees. At European level, however, there is still no agreement, not even a date for a meeting. Wissing explained on Saturday in the reception center that he had asked his French colleague that his government should call the interior ministers together as part of the Council Presidency.
In Germany, Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) agreed on Friday with the federal states and the municipal umbrella organizations on the distribution key as when the many refugees were admitted in 2015.
Transport Minister Wissing sees himself primarily responsible for organizing transports to Germany. After the Poles called for help for the first time two weeks ago, the railways provided old Interregio trains that can run on the Polish network.
The federal company also collects relief supplies with trucks and then transports them to the war zone in container trains with Polish and Ukrainian help. Germany does not have ambulance trains, but according to Wissing it has provided planes that can take 44 people to safe hospitals every day.
More than a million people have already arrived in Poland.
(Foto: Getty Images)
“We have to prepare for a real wave of refugees,” warned rail boss Richard Lutz in Poland. His company can run special trains, but buses are currently more flexible. He has already organized 300 buses, each with 50 seats, which are now also helping out in Poland. He might also activate buses reserved for rail replacement services. He has framework agreements with 3,000 companies that he can “activate”.
The Przemysl Glówny railway station area is only a few kilometers from the border. This is where the trains from Lemberg in western Ukraine arrive, actually run night trains to Odessa. Arrows made of yellow tape on the floor of the magnificent station building now point the way. Children hold on to their mother with one hand and their stuffed animal or water bottle with the other.
They are quiet here too. On platform 2 they wait patiently for the train. The five transport ministers and the EU transport commissioner stand on platform 1 and announce their solidarity with Ukraine and Poland. The Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister thanks. “We want to send a signal that together we are strong once morest Russian aggression,” said Minister Wissing.
Special trains to Germany will not run for the time being. This is only correct if there is “admission capacity at the destination,” said Wissing. “That is the job of the interior ministers.”
More: All the latest news on the Ukraine war in our news blog