“This can happen to you,” warns Ukrainian refugee in Poland

3 years ago
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Ukrainian refugee Sofiia Kochmar-Tymoshenko, who is fleeing Russia's invasion, asked the international community watching to see themselves in those that are fleeing.

"You should feel that it is in your home as it is in my home," she said on Feb. 27. "It can happen with you, in every home in Europe. Because nobody knows what Putin wants and where he will finish," said added.

Some 368,000 people have fled abroad from the fighting in Ukraine, the UN Refugee Agency said on Sunday, citing data provided by national authorities.

Just under half have gone to Poland. At Poland's Medyka crossing, where 40,000 people have crossed from Ukraine since Thursday, around 100 women, children and teenagers stood in line waiting to be processed by Polish border guards.

On the Ukrainian side, a queue of cars and buses stretched back some 35 km to the town of Sudova Vyshnya.

Makeshift kitchens served hot meals alongside the road, and volunteers handed out snacks at a petrol station. Ukrainian police looked on as people walked with dogs on leashes and fathers carried children on their backs, everyone swaddled in winter clothes.

Piles of clothing lined the potholed road as people sought to lighten their load.

Once in Poland, newly-arrived refugees sifted through boxes of donated sweets and toiletries, and collected fruit from makeshift stands. A trickle of cars and vans headed back for Ukraine packed with food supplies.

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