PARIS — Olga Nychyporenko and her two children were living in a basement in Bucha, a city on the front lines of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, for five days when bombs and tanks ravaged the streets above her.
A week later, the 48-year-old teacher and her family found themselves exhausted but safe at a refugee center in Paris, awaiting temporary shelter. They escaped during a lull in fighting, traveled to Poland for days, and then took a free flight to the French capital. She is now entitled to live and work in France for at least a year, with free medical care and education for her children.
“Poland is overflowing,” said Ms. Nychyporenko. “Now we’re here, but then we’ll see. I have nowhere to go.”
Olga Nychyporenko, a teacher who fled to Paris from Bucha, Ukraine, with her husband and one of their two children.
European Union governments have pledged unprecedented support to the more than 3.5 million refugees who have fled Ukraine, the largest movement of people on the continent since World War II. However, the deployment of these resources is testing the EU’s ability to work together in a continent-wide humanitarian response. The aim is to prevent the influx of people from overwhelming the bloc countries to the east, which are on the front lines of Europe’s conflict with Russia.
With the war in Ukraine entering its fourth week, pressure is building. Refugees who fled the invasion early were often those who had family or friends in the EU who would support them. Those arriving now are more likely to be fleeing conflict zones in Ukraine, dealing with more trauma and missing connections in Europe, officials and refugee organizations said. This means they will rely more on government support.
Helping Eastern European countries deal with the influx is becoming a fundamental test for the EU, said Thomas Graham, associate professor of Russian and European studies at Yale University. “They have to deal with it properly in the interest of their own future as a socio-economic and political bloc.”
The EU has given Ukrainians the right to live and work anywhere in the 27-nation bloc for at least a year, under a law passed two decades ago during the Balkan wars but never activated before. The bloc is in the process of allocating tens of billions of dollars from its budget to member states to house the refugees, provide medical care, pay for their children’s schools and other support.
Ukrainian refugees arrive from Germany at Paris Ostbahnhof in mid-March.
Ukrainian refugees were greeted by helpers in Paris.
Air, train and bus companies are giving Ukrainians free passes to settle across the block, away from Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, the countries bordering Ukraine that are currently home to millions of refugees. The EU has set up a system to evacuate up to 10,000 people in need of medical care from refugee camps in the east. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians arrive in Western Europe every day.
Nevertheless, of the 2.1 million refugees who have come to Poland, most remain there. European officials are discussing how to ensure those who wish to travel to the west can make the journey safely in a bid to achieve a more equitable distribution of refugees across the EU. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Monday urged governments to fly out refugees from the bloc’s borders near Ukraine for resettlement in the EU and even the US
“Not only do we need local corridors from Ukraine, we need an airlift,” Ms. Baerbock said. “Everyone has to take in refugees, and it’s not about a few thousand, it’s about millions.”
Russian forces violently dispersed crowds protesting their occupation of Kherson; Satellite images showed ongoing destruction across Ukraine; Biden warned that Putin may use chemical weapons as the war progresses. Photo: Reuters
Poland’s acceptance of Ukrainians is becoming increasingly difficult, said Agnieszka Kosowicz, president of the Polish Migration Forum, a nonprofit group. Many of the refugees live with families who have taken them in, but Ms Kosowicz said such arrangements are not a sustainable solution.
Poland’s healthcare system, already strained by the Covid-19 pandemic, is ill-equipped to care for at least hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who may remain in the country, refugee advocates have said. The Polish government is asking the EU to cover the costs of treating Ukrainian refugees and to accept the transfer of Ukrainian patients.
Western European governments should also do more to monitor the western European migration of Ukrainians by taking care of refugees in Poland, Ms Kosowicz said.
“It would be safer and better monitored,” she said. “It would also make sense to profile people linguistically. If you have a French speaker, it would make sense to send them to France instead of Germany.”
Diana Vitrychenko, a veterinarian who worked at a clinic in Odessa, drove across Europe with her son and mother for five days to reach France. She fled from Russian forces fearing an attack on her hometown. Ms. Vitrychenko, who speaks French, expects to work as a veterinarian in France.
Diana Vitrychenko, a veterinarian from Odessa, Ukraine, with her son at a Paris refugee center.
“I feel lost,” Ms. Vitrychenko said. “We get an apartment, then look for work, French courses for those who can’t. And when this is all over, we want to return to our country.”
Europe’s attitude towards Ukrainian refugees is a departure from its migration policies of recent years. During the 2015 refugee crisis, Germany initially took in Syrian refugees, sowing divisions with neighboring countries unwilling to share the burden. A plan supported by Germany and France to distribute Syrian refugees among the member states failed primarily due to resistance from Eastern European countries, which are at the heart of this crisis. Since then, the EU has worked hard to stop Syrians and people from other war-torn countries from pouring across its borders.
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“This crisis,” French President Emmanuel Macron said after a summit of EU leaders last month, “reminds some at the table who showed less solidarity when migratory pressures came from other borders of Europe that it’s good.” is that Europe fully supports and shares responsibility.”
The EU’s open-door policy has met no opposition from the continent’s populist and nationalist politicians, who for years have dominated debates in Europe with their opposition to all forms of immigration, including refugees.
Matteo Salvini, Italy’s leading anti-immigration politician, traveled to Poland’s border last week to welcome Ukrainians and was slammed for earlier praising Russian President Vladimir Putin. Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour, nationalists challenging Mr Macron in April’s presidential election, have said they support France in taking in Ukrainian refugees because they are from Europe and not from Syria, Afghanistan or other conflict zones outside the continent.
“We were in a presidential campaign where the stance on immigration was really tough,” said Helene Soupios-David, advocacy director of France Terre d’Asile, a nonprofit that manages the reception center for Ukrainians in Paris. “The situation is so extraordinary that everything has turned around.”
The refugee crisis, fueled by a war on the EU’s doorstep, is far bigger than the Syrian crisis, with 3.5 million people fleeing Ukraine in less than a month compared to the 1.3 million from Syria and other countries that entered the entire bloc in 2015. The influx is already testing countries like France and Belgium, where Ukrainians wait in long lines for residency permits. France has opened a major refugee registration facility south of Paris, along with several other centers across the country.
Anna Kazimirova and Kristina Fomitskaya, students who fled Odessa, Ukraine, sought help in Paris.
Anna Kazimirova, a student from the Black Sea port city of Odessa, crossed the border into Moldova on foot and then walked for days into Romania. Ms. Kazimirova studied French at school and decided to leave for Paris. She spent the night waiting outside the refugee center to obtain one of the few hundred residence permits the center processes daily.
“My mother wanted her daughter to study at the Sorbonne,” Ms. Kazimirova said. “Maybe dreams come true.”
write to Matthew Dalton at [email protected]
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