By Faustine Vincent
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ReportFrom Poland, more and more families who fled the bombing are trying to return home. In Kyiv, soldiers assess this early return and denounce a “tragedy”.
The mother was waiting in line outside a shop at the train station in Przemysl, Poland, near the Ukrainian border, when the volunteer overheard the children talking. “Maybe we could talk to Mom about it to change her mind?” “No, she’s already made up her mind.” The volunteer came towards them: “Where are you going, children?” “We are returning to the Donetsk region”. “Oh, but there’s still shooting over there, you know? The little girl nodded. “She told me that she knew, but that Ukraine was her homeland and that she wanted to go back there. I didn’t answer anything, I just gave them candy,” says Jenny Peysin, one of the volunteers deployed at the station to welcome Ukrainians fleeing the fighting.
Almost 6 million people – 90% of them women and children – have fled their country since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, the most massive exodus in Europe since World War II. By the end of May, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that 2 million had returned home.
In Przemysl there are now slightly more people leaving than arriving. The volunteers are perplexed by this strange crossing every day. “You see people arriving fleeing the war, and two hours later the same number or almost leaving in the opposite direction. They all say they are scared, they don’t know what to expect, they know the war will go on, but they go anyway. I miss it,” admits Brian Smith, an American volunteer. In the last few days, tickets for Ukraine have sold out so quickly that it takes almost two weeks to find a seat.
Nadia Sementchenko and a few hundred Ukrainians wait in front of the Przemysl train station, Poland, May 21, 2022. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR THE WORLD
In this On the morning of May, more than 700 return candidates are standing in front of the train station, in the middle of their suitcases. Families come from all over Ukraine, from Lviv to Kharkiv, through the Kyiv, Dnipro, Cherkassy, Zaporiya and Donetsk regions. Some of them just go back and forth, the time to collect documents and check the condition of the house. Despite the uncertainty, the other only longs for home. “The war isn’t over yet, but it’s quieter where I live now,” said a resident of Kyiv with her daughter on her knees. “I miss my country and then two and a half months have passed since we left, it’s time to go back,” said another, who fled the capital with her children and mother in a disaster. “At home we hear the bombs, but they don’t shoot at the village,” says a third person who leaves for the Donetsk region with the women of the family.
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