On those returning to Ukraine
Having arrived back in Przemyśl this weekend, and seen how the situation has changed, I thought it was important to write something about these people who are going home, who are now the majority of the people who pass through the station, and the myriad of reasons why they are choosing to do so. The desperate fact is that the vast majority you speak to are returning because they have run out of money. The support provided in EU countries simply isn’t adequate, and people have been unable to find work. This is only going to get worse over the coming weeks and months as international support dries up – Poland, which has taken in by far the largest number of refugees, is ending its subsidies for host families from 1st July. Even the most qualified professionals are struggling to find work in Europe, and people have burnt through the entirety of their savings. I spoke to one woman late last night who was returning to Kyiv with her two small children. She had felt okay about going back before, she told me, and whilst it was a financially motivated decision, she had been looking forward to being at home for the first time in three months. After Sunday morning’s missile strikes on Kyiv, she had reconsidered her return, fearing for her children, but ultimately had concluded that she had no choice. I gave her KHARPP’s details, and told her that if she changed her mind and wanted to return to Europe, she could get in touch, and we would do our best to facilitate a smoother experience for her and her children.
It feels like there’s an endless to-ing and fro-ing going on at the moment – calls from those in Ukraine desperate to leave intermingling with those from people we helped settle in the EU months ago telling us that whilst they have housing, they have no benefits, and don’t know what to do or where to turn to. One mother and daughter who I met in Przemyśl in early April texted me last week to inform me that they still eat every single meal at Berlin Hbf where they can access free food, as they still haven’t been able to find work or access adequate benefits.
Another family somewhere else in Germany called me on Wednesday to ask me to help them find a UK sponsor, as they too were finding it impossible to access real support or find work. There’s a lot to make me question the wisdom of that decision. On the train from Krakow to Przemyśl, I met a mother and daughter who had been in the UK and asked why they were going back. They weren’t going back permanently, they replied, but the daughter had broken a tooth and needed emergency dental care. They hadn’t been able to access an NHS dentist, and couldn’t afford to go private. It ended up being cheaper, quicker, and easier, to fly to Poland, cross the border, enter a warzone, and go back to see their dentist in Kyiv, than it would be to see someone in the UK. We just have to pray that Kyiv remains safe for the duration of the time it takes them for them to get treatment and get out. Pretty much my entire flight from the UK was made up of Ukrainians returning, and I wonder how many of them were going for similar reasons. The impact of these returnees can be felt in Ukraine. Food is in short supply in the east of the country, and the work of volunteers like those in the Kharkiv Aid Office becomes ever more strained the more people return. But then again, if you have no money and no food, I guess it’s understandable that you would rather have no money and no food in your own home.
Though most people are returnees at the moment, there is still a relatively steady stream of people leaving. Predominantly, these are people coming from the east of the country - often either those who have escaped occupied territories, or people from recently liberated territories who are only now able to leave. Finance is also a motivating factor for some of those leaving. I recently helped a young photographer - originally from Zaporozhia but living in Kyiv at the time of the war - to relocate to Berlin. She had remained for the worst of the bombardment of Kyiv, only to find that once the Russian troops had left, there was no work. The only photography people would pay for was war photography. I read somewhere that a third of jobs in Ukraine have disappeared as a result of the war. I’m surprised it isn’t more. It feels more hopeless here than it did at the start in a lot of ways – when there were 50,000 people coming through Przemyśl today, it was hugely chaotic and stressful, but in the end there was free hot food provided 24 hours a day, and rooms for mothers and children to sleep. You knew that if you put someone on a train to Warsaw or Berlin or Prague, they would be met by volunteers there and there would be room for them. Now, the volunteer effort here is winding down, and the feedback from every country that people have any desire to go to seems to be a resounding ‘we’re full’. Even Ireland now has people waiting in a camp in Dublin for two weeks before they house people, and the little housing there is seems to be entirely in rural areas. I worry that good will is wearing thin across Europe; people are bored of the war and they want to move on. KHARPP is still here though, and we will stay and continue our work for as long as it is necessary. Hotel rooms still need reserving, suitcases and power banks buying, and as the numbers returning to Ukraine continue to rise, the amount we spend on food and medicine for Kharkiv will too. Please keep supporting us, either via our PayPal (this is ideal as we are able to access the funds instantly) – donate@kharpp.com – or via our JustGiving
Just one photo today - a man waiting with flowers for his partner to get off the train from Kyiv late yesterday evening.