2023-11-05 17:28:28
Caption,
Liliya Mykhailik (right) and her three daughters are now part of the millions of displaced Ukrainians.
Article informationAuthor, Jenny HillRole, BBC News, Ucrania central
6 hours
It is still night when a train arrives at a station in central Ukraine and aid workers crowd expectantly around one of the carriages.
When the doors open you see a little girl.
The workers’ hands reach out to help her down as her mother follows, carefully passing her baby in a small pink basket to the helpers.
They are Ukraine’s newest war refugees.
Last week, authorities ordered the forced evacuation of children from 31 cities and towns near the front lines.
This train transported several families from the Donetsk region to relative safety further west. We cannot name the exact location for security reasons.
Caption,
Aid workers wait for displaced people arriving from villages near the front line.
The orders, which are issued whenever conditions are deemed too dangerous, came after Russia resumed its attacks on parts of the Donetsk region and fighting intensified in the Kherson region.
Located in the southeast of the country, in the Donbas area, Donestsk has been at the center of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia since 2014, when pro-Russian groups took control of that region and declared it independent of Kyiv.
Kherson, for its part, is home to the only major city that Moscow has managed to conquer since it launched its invasion in February 2022, from which it then had to withdraw in November of the same year. It is a key region for access to the Crimean peninsula.
While volunteers unload bags, boxes and suitcases, others accompany the bewildered and exhausted newcomers into the warmth of the season.
There are three teenagers sitting on benches, their perplexity and dismay showing on their faces. You can hear the meowing of a cat in a basket at the feet of one of the young women.
“The last time a projectile hit our house was the tenth time,” his mother tells us.
Liliya Mykhailik says the family moved to an apartment in the same village, but as communication lines were disrupted due to the attacks, her daughters’ online education became impossible.
Her husband stayed in the village with his father and mother, who refused to leave.
Liliya says she is unsure of her family’s future: “We traveled here blind.”
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The BBC cannot reveal where the evacuated families arrived for security reasons.
The “white angels”
While the family waits for the bus to take them to their new accommodation, aid workers hand out coffee and state officials hand out cash.
In addition to free transportation to a safe place, Ukraine initially gives all forced evacuees money (about US$55 per adult and US$85 for each child or vulnerable adult) and a place to live.
Adults are expected to eventually work.
No one says it, but everyone here knows they may never see their homes again.
And that is why, despite the danger and daily difficulties, some did not want to leave.
It’s up to people like Pavlo Dyachenko to persuade them.
He is one of the so-called “White Angels,” a special police unit responsible for bringing in humanitarian aid and removing people from the most dangerous places in Ukraine.
“Everything has to be done very quickly,” says Dyachenko. “The danger is always there because the Russians don’t stop bombing.”
image copyrightDonetsk Regional Police
Caption,
The “White Angels” have the mission of removing people from the most dangerous places in Ukraine.
Getting families with children to safety presents a particular challenge. Each team carries toys in the car.
“Someone has to talk to the kids all the time, distract them from dangers on the road or other stressful moments,” he says.
While millions of Ukrainians have fled the war abroad, the Kyiv government estimates there are nearly five million internally displaced people in the country. Forced evacuees are welcomed by communities throughout Ukraine.
We met several families who were housed in an old school.
The sound of a recording floats down the hallway as 10-year-old Varvara sits in front of a laptop in what was once a classroom.
The girl is taking an online lesson at school that she can no longer physically attend.
Caption,
Varvara (center) now attends school via Zoom after her family was evacuated west.
Varvara arrived here with her mother Iryna and grandmother Svitlana from the town of Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region, where bombing had forced them to live in a basement.
In their new accommodation they share a bathroom and kitchen with the other residents.
“I really like it here,” Iryna says, and Svitlana agrees. But tears begin to run down both women’s faces.
“We want to go home. We want all this to end,” they say.
Varvara watches as her mother and grandmother cry, not surprised by their pain.
Ukraine’s refugee children are far from the front lines. But their lives continue to be marked by conflict.
Additional reporting by Hanna Tsyba
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