Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on February 24, 2022, many Ukrainians have had to flee the fighting to find refuge in Europe. Throughout France, many refugees have been welcomed, including in Lille, in the North. The town hall, associations and inhabitants of Lille have mobilized to accommodate the refugees with volunteer families. Today, around 700 Ukrainian nationals live an almost normal life in Lille. Among all these refugees, a hundred are students. And despite the innumerable difficulties, they continue their studies in different establishments in the metropolis. Anastasiia, Diana, Svitlana and Hanna agreed to tell 20 Minutes their journey.
“The trip lasted two days”
At 19, Anastasiia Padlevska, originally from the town of Bila Tserkva, near kyiv, landed in France on March 10, 2022: “The trip lasted two days. First, I was in western Ukraine, in a border town near Moldova,” she explains. Then, with relatives, she crossed the border before going to Romania. “From there, we were able to take a plane to Paris”, continues the young woman.
Also 20-year-old Diana Kutsalo did not take the same route. “My sister, my mother and I came to France by car,” says the student from kyiv. A journey of more than 2,000 km through seven countries: “We left Ukraine on March 7 and spent a week in Poznan, Poland. On March 17, we arrived in Lille,” she explains, adding that she had crossed Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. Svitlana Zhdanova and her sister Hanna, 26 and 21, left Kharkiv on March 17. Neither plane nor car for them: “We arrived in Lille on April 27, by bus, after having lived for a month in Poland, in Krakow, with a host family,” explains Svitlana.
“In Ukraine I was studying French philology but then I decided to try something completely different,” recalls Anastasiia. However, she did not necessarily plan to enter university in France: “Many factors made me change my mind. Today, I am a first-year student in organizational communication at the IUT of Lille. »
“The war forced me to come earlier”
Housed for a time by her godmother, the student now rents her own apartment after some administrative setbacks: “If we talk about the difficulties, like every national of a foreign country, there are a lot of problems with the establishment of documents, the search for accommodation,” she says. Diana, she had planned to come to France anyway: “I am studying in L3 International Economics & Business at the Catholic University of Lille. I had planned to go to France for a master’s degree, but the war forced me to come earlier. And, in addition to her classes at the Catho, Diana is finishing her fourth year in “economic cybernetics” in Ukraine.
Like Anastasiia, Diana underlines the “problems encountered with bureaucracy” in France. For housing, on the other hand, it was fine: “I first lived with my family in an apartment made available to us by my mother’s company. Now I live in the university residence”. The two sisters from Kharkiv, Svitlana and Hanna, are learning French: “We are both taking French lessons for foreigners at the University of Lille. Without knowledge of the language it is not possible to find a job and enter the university”, admits Svitlana. Once they have mastered the language, they have “the desire and the intention to study in France”. And they are doing well, after only four months in foster care, Svitlana and Hanna now have their own apartment.
“I feel sadness and anxiety”
“Thinking of Ukraine I feel sadness and anxiety,” sighs Anastasiia. She confides to having “hate” towards the Russians: “They took away an opportunity for me to live peacefully in Ukraine and prevented me from seeing my family for almost a year. I don’t know when I will see her again. “And her future, the young woman struggles to envisage it:” It is difficult to make plans for the future. We don’t know when the war will end,” she laments. In the meantime, she will continue her studies in France: “If there is an opportunity to return to Ukraine, I will. »
Diana also feels “sadness” thinking about her country and her family. “There is also a part of despair, because we cannot influence or change the situation in our country in any way,” she laments. She also hopes to return to Ukraine, but after her studies: “I would like to join the master’s degree in Data and artificial intelligence in Lille”.
Svitlana and her sister Hanna are more melancholic: “The sensations are very strange, most of the time we think it’s a dream”, admits Svitlana. “Kharkiv is a very beautiful city with a unique atmosphere. We miss a lot of things, the life we led there, the people, she continues. We want to see our younger brother, our mother and embrace them. Strolling through our favorite mall, cycling out of town, going to the movies. »