Published: 07/03/2022 – 00:19
The exodus of Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues. More than half a million people joined neighboring Poland. But if there are a lot of arrivals from the Polish side, then several tens of thousands of Ukrainians made their way back to return to their country to help or fight.
A bus with about fifteen people had just arrived at the Medyka border post on the Polish side. Among the travelers, Dmitry Marchenko is dragging a suitcase behind him. At 24, this Ukrainian, working in Poland, decided to give up everything to return to his homeland.
“On the one hand, it was not an easy decision. I have already spent most of my life in Poland, I have everything here, an apartment, a job. I have nothing left in Ukraine, I don’t even know when I can return to Poland,” Dmitry explains. In Ukraine, we have territorial defense brigades, and I would like to be able to enroll in a unit in my region. Mom told me not to come home and wait,” adds the young man. Obviously, not every mother wants her son to go to war. But why wait? The war has been going on for eight years. It’s not that I hope to win, I’m sure we will win. The future of Ukraine is connected with Europe, not with Russia. Every Ukrainian knows that this is our territory and the truth is on our side. »
If the majority of Ukrainians on the way back are men, then we also see women who have decided to leave. We are going to one of the points of temporary reception of refugees in the city of Przemysl, arranged at an elementary school. In the Ivan Tatchev gymnasium, with tears in his eyes, he says goodbye to his 14-year-old daughter, hugging her. She took her to Poland to keep her daughter safe, but now she is preparing for her return journey to Ukraine.
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“Fight for our land”
“I understand that families with one-year-old, two-month-old babies want to run away, but if everyone leaves, if there are no more Ukrainians, then there will be no more Ukraine, it’s over. So, if you have the opportunity, you should return, says Ivana. Our duty as Ukrainians is to fight for our land, for our Motherland. If everyone is running, then there is no more reason to fight. »
“I don’t want to be a hero, I just want to help in any way I can,” admits this Ukrainian woman, who is thinking about becoming a nurse organization or a volunteer in the home front.
Ukraine also called on foreign volunteers to form an international defense legion.
“I came from Sweden and decided to join the Foreign Legion in order to take up arms against Vladimir Putin,” testifies a young Swede, 25, whom he met in a hotel near the Przemysl station. Looking a little lost, he holds a hiking bag at his feet, on which we can see the rug. He arrived in Poland by train from Sweden, passing through Germany.
“It’s obvious why it’s important to go and fight. This is important because you cannot let a dictator, a terrible person, run the country. And the most important thing is not that “I will be able to change something,” but that “if I don’t go there, then who can go there?”, The young man says. No one has a better profile than me. »
According to the Ukrainian president, 16,000 foreigners have already volunteered to fight on the side of Ukraine.