April 5, 2022 News

We don't want to be on the run, we want to return, says woman fleeing war

One car, two days, four women. Nina, her daughter, mother and mother-in-law fled Kiev for the western Ukrainian town of Drohobych. "Their boys" stayed in the capital. They want to defend it so the family has somewhere to return to.

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The journey to safety took them two days

More than four million, practically one in ten. That's how many Ukrainians had to flee the country after Russia attacked it. But the number of people who have had to leave their homes is more than double that. In fact, Ukrainians are also fleeing to the west parts of the country, which they do not want to leave.  

At first glance mere statistics are in fact stories of millions of people who have been forced to leave their lives behind. In places where war is now raging. One of the stories is Nina's. A nurse from the Ukrainian capital made the two-day journey to Drohobych in the west of the country.  

Boys waiting in line for a machine gun 

She arrived at a refugee centre run by the local Caritas organisation a few days ago with her daughter Victoria, her mother and mother-in-law. "My daughter graduated from university in December, she is a financial officer," Nina describes her company. "The mothers (her mother and mother-in-law, ed.) are no longer working, they are retired." 

The all-female group is no accident. "Our boys", as Nina calls the male part of the family, have stayed in Kiev, waiting to join the fighting. "There are no vacancies. But they are trying to do other necessary things," Nina explains the job description of the men waiting in line to join the army or territorial defence. "They bring the soldiers tea, coffee. They help with cleaning, put sand in bags and so on." 

At least they help out as volunteers until they can join the armed forces. 

We want to go home

Nina did not want to leave the capital. However, the situation was becoming more and more difficult. It was difficult to get food and medicine. Her mother has had cancer surgery and needs medication. "When you queue at a pharmacy for four hours only to find out that they don't have everything you need, you realize that you really have to leave," Nina recalls.  

The women made the journey to Drohobych in their own car, struggling along the way with issues such as a lack of petrol. However, they do not want to flee Ukraine as such. "We hope for one or two more weeks... We want to return home," the nurse says, looking forward to the end of the war and the return to her Kiev apartment. The option of staying in Lviv is also in play, if a branch of the clinic she had worked for before the invasion opens there. 

However, all this is currently far in the future. For now, their home is the Caritas Refugee Centre. "Thank God, we have everything here. Even food and hot water. Everything, everything is availbale. We even received clothes," describes Nina the current situation. 

Nina's story is just one of the millions. It is only thanks to your donations that we can help these people in this extremely difficult time. If you also want to get involved in helping, you can use the QR code or send money directly to the appeal account below.