“Could you lower the curtain, please? The enemy is watching us. The meaning of the imperative request of one of the passengers on the night train Kyiv to Uzhhorod it is clear, although it is reduced to an eloquent wave of the hand and a few unintelligible words: the shutters of the windows of railway trains, in times of war and after sunset, they must remain rigidly lowered. “It’s important not to let any light through,” explains a passenger calmly, to avoid the train being intercepted by a rocket fired by the Russians. Every precaution is important.” The train leaves at 8 p.m. and runs at night, but in the first part of its route it touches, touches, the hot front of the military campaign around the capital cytomyr. For this purpose, the artificial light is completely darkened and the convoy moves on like a shadow in the dark. The precautionary measure was already evident in the monumental central station in Kyiv, when a few minutes after 7 p.m. the lights were switched off completely and only the totem poles were active to indicate destinations, platforms and timetables.
Convoys leaving the capital heading west are not the same as they were a month ago. Most of those displaced by the war have already fled east and south from the most tormented cities Sumy to Kharkivfrom Chernihiv to Dnipro. Millions of women, children and old people have settled there Lviv or in the cities of Carpathianshave found a welcome in Poland and in the rest of Europe. The flow has decreased significantly since midMarch. Things are changing, it’s obvious now. The progress of the conflict, marked by a deadlock that has now been consolidated in some areas of the former Soviet republic, it urges more and more Ukrainians to retrace their steps. For those entering Ukraine, it is already evident how the trend is slowly reversing: no longer just fleeing to the West, For many it is time to return. The night train to Uzhhorod, on the border with Hungary and Slovakia, partly full but not overcrowded. Many places are vacant and all are paid: whoever travels has a reason to do so, and it’s not just about escaping war.
Ukraine’s transport network has been in turmoil since February 24, and it couldn’t be otherwise. Trains run at slow speed and watch several stops for safety reasonsto pile up biblical delays on timetables. The litmus test is the chaos at the train station in Lviv, the new “capital, which has not changed for forty days which doubled its population in taking in displaced persons. Some trains are so late that they’re practically cancelled. The scenes from early March in the entrance hall of the train station are similar to those of today. With one difference: now, with the emergency lessened compared to the early days of the war drama, Most travelers do it alone. “Two weeks ago, the trains to Kyiv ran half empty, they mainly transported goods and various materials, now that has changed, confirms the young man. template, rail information bureau volunteer, mobbed by travelers who don’t know what to do. “Not only humanitarian workers and men in various capacities are involved in the conflict anymore adds Dima families traveling east are also on board”.
Lviv’s freezing dawn welcomes those who couldn’t use the railway. It starts to snow. Outside the station, the solidarity network is always active with basic comfort goods, food, hot drinks, clothing and blankets. Groups of mothers and grandmothers with children and grandchildren are jumping on the other option to leave the country: travel by road. A very large offer of coaches allows you to reach the Polish border or even beyond. Tour buses depart Kraków, Warsaw, Katowice, the main cities of Poland. That’s filling with a certain slowness for Katowice, another symptom that demand isn’t what it’s been in recent weeks. Only women and children on board for a change. It’s about planned trips, with a purpose other than warrelated urgency: “I’m going to Katowice to see my sister, who’s been living there for a few years, I’ll stay with her for a while,” confides a pensioner, struggling with her cell phone. There are at least three borders on the Polish side to exit Ukraine. The from medication lets you reach Przemysl and the central point of the refugee reception, i.e. the path that was taken in the first phase of the emergency. The other, forty kilometers north, connects Chortsova (Poland) a Krakowets (Ukraine). Not far from here, on March 13, Russian missiles hit the military base of Javoriv claim numerous victims. We are a few kilometers from Europe.
The transit of the refugees through Krakowezer Customs at the beginning of March was impressive. In freezing temperatures, hundreds of people waited in line for checks before crossing through Poland to be taken on board buses to the various designated locations. At the gas station, just a stone’s throw from customs, there wasn’t even room for a pin. Today these scenes no longer exist. Controls are always arduous, taking hours to get from Ukraine to Poland, but the people waiting are no more than 10 percent of those seen twenty days ago. But the real scenario, confirming how the trend has changed, is on the Polish side. In early March, vehicle flow was scarce, limited to humanitarian organizations, journalists, volunteers and little more. No queues to get to the controls. Entering Ukraine now is a lottery: Lines of trucks, vans, cars and private vehicles in general stretch for kilometers along the highway leading directly to the border. Meanwhile, the bus to Katowice with a stopover in Kraków is leaving again. Mobile phones no longer work with Ukrainian SIM cards, so the bus attendant first walks down the aisle and points Telephone cards with 20 gigabytes of Internet. As expected, they sell out quickly.