Since the start of the war, several thousand Ukrainian women and children have found refuge in Solotvyno, in the far west of Ukraine. In this village spared by the fighting, the sirens do not sound and the hairdressers are still open. But the war effort and patriotism still punctuate everyday life, relates the daily newspaper.
Eight days is the time it took since the start of the war for Lilya Solodovnik to feel safe again. His city, Kharkiv, was one of the first targets of Vladimir Putin’s bombs and missiles. There, some of his family and friends are still lurking in damp basements or subway stations, while Russian soldiers destroy apartment buildings, hospitals and schools.
But here, on the third floor of this orphanage nestled in the Ukrainian Carpathians, Lilya looks at her daughter, Lena, and smiles. The 6-year-old girl plays on a blue rocking horse, swinging her long pigtails. Through the window shines a warm afternoon sun. Not a single air alert since arriving here, says the young woman, who not so long ago was still working as a massage therapist. Her husband was a driver. They had a small car and their own house. Life was good.
Like thousands of women and children fleeing besieged and bombed cities, Lilya and her daughter have found refuge in a small town, which until recently had heard of refugees only on television. Solotvyno has barely 8,500 inhabitants. Located in the Carpathians [à l’extrême ouest du pays]the municipality is located on a steep border area, sparsely populated and almost cut off from Ukrainian cities, which have experienced rapid development in recent years.
The former orphanage where the displaced are now housed is only 1 kilometer from the border with Romania: to get there, take the main street winding through the city, pass in front of the hairdresser, who did not cease its activities, greeting the young Ukrainian soldiers who control the passports by nibbling chocolate cakes. Pull your small suitcase with few personal effects, cross the narrow wooden bridge that spans the Tisza river marking the border, and find yourself sheltered in a Romania that is a member of NATO.
“Here is Ukraine again”
More than 10,000 Ukrainians have already fled the country, passing through Solotvyno, one of the country’s smallest border crossings. According to United Nations estimates, more than 3 million have left Ukraine. But love and patriotism keep these women gathered in the former Solotvyno orphanage. Impossible for them to take this last step, which would make them leave the country.
It was her husband who brought her here, to the shelter, explains Lilya. Their journey lasted two days, first because of numerous road checks, destroyed bridges and rutted roads; then, very quickly because of the isolation of the place: the nearest big city is located at the foot of the mountains. Beyond, the ground is less practicable; you have to take windy paths full of potholes, on which it is difficult to overtake the horse-drawn peasant carts.
Their goodbyes lasted ten minutes. Her husband has gone inland to fight for the
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Denise Hruby
Source
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