Refugees arriving in Poland from Ukraine on Monday wait to board buses and trains to take them to Warsaw and Przemysl.
2 million refugees have left Ukraine in 12 days
March 8 (NPR) - More than 2 million Ukrainians have fled their country in the 12 days since Russia began its invasion, according to a tracker from the U.N. refugee agency.
It took a single week for the number of refugees to reach 1 million, on Thursday. That number has increased exponentially, as Russian forces have amped up their shelling of critical and civilian infrastructure.
The 2 million refugees, who are mostly women and children, represent about 4% of Ukraine’s population. At least half of them are children, according to UNICEF. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that some 4 million Ukrainians could flee their homeland as the crisis unfolds.
It says it’s working with nonprofits and neighboring countries to “ensure safe access to territory for refugees and third-country nationals fleeing from Ukraine, in line with international standards.”
The vast majority of refugees — more than 1 million — have been welcomed by Poland, which borders Ukraine to the west. NPR’s Joanna Kakissis reports from Rzeszow that Poland is receiving 100,000 refugees every day, with dozens of reception centers offering hot meals and a place to rest.
Tens of thousands have made their way to Russia, as well as other Eastern European countries like Slovakia, Hungary, Moldova and Romania.
As NPR has reported, not all refugees are getting the same treatment, with students of color from Africa and South Asia saying they faced discrimination at the Polish border. And the warm welcome extended to most Ukrainians lies in stark contrast to the way many of these same countries have treated previous waves of refugees from places like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Plus, some parts of the world appear more hospitable to Ukrainian refugees than others.
The United States is granting temporary protection from deportation to tens of thousands of Ukrainians already within its borders, while the European Union just introduced similar protections for Ukrainian refugees.
The United Kingdom, however, is facing criticism for granting visas to only 300 Ukrainian refugees so far. That number is up from about 50 on Sunday, the BBC reports.
Refugees seeking a U.K. visa must either have family in the country or a British sponsor for their application. The U.K.’s Home Office says there are some 17,700 family applications in progress.
Some 600 Ukrainians are stuck in the French port of Calais — across the English Channel from Dover — in their efforts to reach the U.K., with the BBC reporting that many say they were turned away for lack of paperwork. British officials said Tuesday that they are opening another French visa application center in Lille, in addition to its primary location in Paris.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson rejected calls this week to relax visa requirements for Ukrainians, saying Britain’s system is “generous” but requires oversight.
“We are a very, very generous country. What we want though is control and we want to be able to check,” he said, according to Euronews. “I think it’s sensible given what’s going on in Ukraine to make sure that we have some basic ability to check who is coming in.”
But Ben Wallace, the defense secretary, told the BBC on Tuesday that the U.K. needs to accelerate the process of verifying refugees’ identities and arranging their visas, noting it was able to do so quickly in the past for Afghan refugees. He said his department would help the Home Office in that effort.
“Can I do more, can the government do more, to speed up the processing of visas? Yes they can. Will we be doing it? Absolutely,” he said.
Musicians of the Kyiv-Classic Symphony Orchestra under the direction of conductor Herman Makarenko perform, during an open-air concert named “Free Sky” at the Independence Square in central Kyiv, Ukraine March 9, 2022. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Orchestra plays national anthem in central Kyiv as Russians advance
KYIV, March 9 (Reuters) - On a Kyiv square where recent popular uprisings have scuppered Moscow’s ambitions in Ukraine, an orchestra assembled before a small crowd on Wednesday to play the national anthem as Russian forces advanced on the city.
The Kyiv-Classic Symphony Orchestra also performed an excerpt from Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”, on which the European Union’s anthem is based - a nod to the Ukraine government’s desire to move closer to Europe and away from Russia’s orbit.
Dozens of people gathered to watch on the central Maidan Square, some waving Ukrainian flags. They applauded when the national anthem was finished and a woman cried out “To Ukraine!”
The lyrics of the anthem include the lines, “Ukraine has not yet perished…. our enemies will vanish like dew in the sun.”
Conductor Herman Makarenko told reporters that the concert was a call for peace.
“We would like to support our president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who called, calls and will call to all governments of the world (to) stop the war in Ukraine.”
He said he managed to gather around 20 musicians for the performance, instead of 65-70 who normally make up the ensemble.
Wednesday’s concert was held on the vast square where thousands of Ukrainian protesters set up a tent city in 2013 and 2014 to oppose then-President Viktor Yanukovich’s shock decision to suspend talks with the EU and revive ties with Moscow.
I’m sure nobody has forgotten that, but every time I see a new story about Trump praising Vladimir Putin, as he has done THIS week, I think it’s important to recall that he also extorted Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is literally fighting for his life while leading Ukraine against Russia.
I feel like in order to understand what is going on we need to see pictures of the war. We can read the words and think we understand, that we can imagine it but we can’t. So here’s few pictures from the past few days, nothing too graphic.
A man walks with a bicycle next to a truck that carries black bags with corpses of people killed during the war with Russia and exhumed from a mass grave for investigations in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Writing covers a wall and a door in the basement of a school in Yahidne, near Chernihiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. Residents say more than 300 people were trapped for weeks by Russian occupiers in the basement of the school in Yahidne. They wrote the names of people who died during the Russian occupation of their village. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A boy shows the shell of a bullet in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
A man with a bicycle walks in front of a destroyed apartment building in the town of Borodyanka, Ukraine, on Saturday, April 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Graves of local residents who died during the fighting with Russia are seen in a street behind private houses in an area that Russian-backed separatists claim to control in the Ukraine city of Mariupol, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov)
Cars drive near a damaged bridge following a Russian attack in the previous weeks in the town of Makarov, Kyiv region, Ukraine, on Sunday, April 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) serviceman plays with a cat during an operation to arrest suspected Russian collaborators in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
People walk down a street near past a building damaged by shelling in Irpin, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A cemetery worker takes a rest from working on the graves of civilians killed in Bucha during the war with Russia, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Residents stand outside their apartments as shops burn after a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
New York City: Emergency news conference and picket inside Grand Central Station to demand No war with Russia! Stand with Donbass! U.S. out of Ukraine! February 19, 2022
Even though other people are saying it better than I will - I’m saying it because I need each of you to know. Because it is vital for me and my country right now.
There has been war in the eastern part of Ukraine for 8 years: Russia invaded us and occupied our territories. It was ugly. Many people lost their homes, many had to leave everything behind and flee. Others have been trapped there, unable to leave.
Now Russia is about to launch another invasion to try and cut off another piece of my country. Everywhere they come, there will be death and destruction. So many people will be killed, and many more will be forced to flee their homes.
And then, if Russia occupies any place, there will be terror. People will disappear in the night, and their bodies will be found after. If you’ve forgotten, if you did not know - that is how it happened in Crimea. People who are not Russian enough, not compliant anough, not cisstraight enough, or deny occupants anything, or look the wrong way - will be killed, or thrown into prison, or beaten and robbed.
Without international support, Ukraine cannot defend itself against the invasion. We need other countries to stand up for us to stop Russia’s attack. We need it before it is too late.
So I’m sitting here, not knowing if my city is going to be bombed tomorrow, with an emergency bag packed just in case I need to run and hide in the middle of the night.
And I am asking you: please show your government that you want them to do everything to stop the war right now. Reach out to your government, to your local politicians. Boost Ukrainian voices. Don’t stay silent about Ukraine. Tell them until they listen. You can help stop the war.
February 24, 2022. Ukraine is under attack from Russia since today’s morning. Cities are being bombed, and Russian troops are attacking from the border with Belarus and from Crimea.
Please do not let the world turn a blind eye on it. Please do what you can to make your country’s government support Ukraine and make Russia stop the war.
If you can, please also donate to Ukrainian charities such as Повернись живим (there are links in other posts I reblogged).
National Bank of Ukraine has opened an account for donations to Ukrainian army. It is open for EUR, USD, and GBP transfers from abroad. It is also open for transfers from Ukrainians in UAH. Account number: UA843000010000000047330992708
if you’re from Ukraine, you have a uterus and don’t want to be pregnant:
1. First of all AVOID AT ANY COST people and sites that have the name of “Ordo Iuris” or “pro-prawo do życia” (translate: pro-life). If you see a logo of fetus inside a heart, run.
Pro-prawo do życia foundation informed that one woman from Ukraine contacted them, asking for abortion. She barely spoke polish, which they admitted without any shame, that’s why she thought that if they talk about abortion, they can provide it. They informed that they “explained children are not killed in Poland” and that now she’s “in a safe place where no harm can come to her and her baby”. I don’t have words for how fucking inhuman it is to manipulate traumatized woman into carrying pregnancy she’s not ready for since she’s a refugee with no finances.
They will give you information on how to perform safe abortion with right medicaments or will help to travel abroad.
3. If anyone would try to threat you, remember than in Poland it is still legal to do abortion yourself, that’s why it’s mostly done with pills. Don’t let them manipulate you. Fuck these people. You’re not evil for needing abortion.
Please, help me spread this message and translate it in Ukrainian, please
