Yevgen Chornomordenko waited 11 days at the Polish border for his wife Alina and their two children to cross. The Ukrainian capital had been awakened to Russian bombardment on February 24.
War broke out at his home days after he arrived in Wroclow, Poland, to install solar panels.
Chornomordenko stated, “I never believed that war would begin,” as he checked his GPS position to see if his family was in the right place.
Nearby, Filippo Grandi (the U.N. high commissar for refugees) visited the Medyka border crossing. He declared that the refugee crisis in Europe is the most severe since World War II. 1.5 million people sought refuge in neighbouring countries within 11 days.
Chornomordenko’s spouse and their two children crossed the border just moments after the U.N. official had spoken. They drove in a small, white Kia that Alina had driven from Kyiv across Ukraine, which is in normal times eight hours.
He placed his 4-year-old son David on his shoulders and held Sofia, an 8-month-old baby in his arms. He looked lovingly at Sofia’s tiny face, murmuring “so beautiful.”
He said, “I am so thankful,”
Chornomordenko was asked if he would fight in Ukraine, but he stated that his priority right now was to find safe housing for his family. While he was waiting for his family, he exchanged frequent messages with his retired parents and brother, who are both charity workers, as they remain concerned about him.
“I feel sorry for the situation. He said, “I know that it is very difficult to the people who are still there.”
Despite the fact that humanitarian corridors to aid refugees fleeing Ukraine collapsed just as fast as they were agreed on inside Ukraine, Sunday saw an increase in refugees.
Grandi stated that humanitarian corridors were also crucial in allowing basic goods to reach those who are most desperate and to evacuate the most vulnerable.
Grandi stated, “But what’s really needed is a ceasefire, the ending of hostilities because that’s how you stop this tragedy.”
Pope Francis echoed these sentiments, making a powerful appeal to peace at Vatican Sunday. He pleaded for “an end of the armed attacks” and that negotiations prevail.
The pontiff made a very unusual statement, stating that he had sent two Cardinals to the war-ravaged nation. This signaled that the “Holy See” is willing to do anything to help this peace.
During his Sunday blessing, the pope declared that “In Ukraine rivers of blood and tear are flowing.” This is more than a military operation. It is a war spreading destruction and misery. As the fleeing people flee, so do the victims.
From Zaporozhzhia in Ukraine, where Russian troops set fire to a building after it was struck with a projectile, one 11-year-old boy managed to make it all the way from Zaporozhia to Slovakia. The boy’s mother, fearful, sent him alone on the journey of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) by train to search for relatives. She stayed behind to care to her mother who is unable to move.
According to the statement of Slovakia’s Interior Ministry who called the boy “a true hero”, “He arrived with a plastic bag and passport, along with a telephone number written on him,”
Volunteers cared for him and took him to a warm shelter where he was fed and reconnected him with his family in Bratislava.
The mother thanked the Slovak police and government for their care of her son in a video that was provided by the police.
People with big hearts live within your small country. Save our children in Ukraine, please,” said Yulia Volodymyrivna Piesecka, the mother.
Romanian refugees from Ukraine gathered at Saints Peter and Paul Christian Orthodox Church, Suceava, to pray and ask for peace. Rev. Rev. Mihai Maghiar, himself Ukrainian-Romanian.
Maghiar said that the first thing they do as Church servants is to talk with them, trust them again and help them understand that life does not end at the Ukrainian border or any other border. He has witnessed many refugees pass his church since the Russian invasion on February 24th.
Oksana Oliinykova sought to find strength in the church. Her daughter will be traveling to the Netherlands with her, as her Dutch friends offered her a space to speak. Oliinykova, a journalist who has reported on the horrors of war, plans to return to Ukraine where her father and son fought.
“And we can’t assist with anything. It’s scary. It is frightening to realize that the boys who fight are left with nothing. She said that we can’t provide helmets or bulletproof vests for our soldiers.”
Messages from friends in text messages tell her how dire the situation is at home. They ask for help. “We have been without electricity for three consecutive days. “The (Russians), are near, we can’t leave, and we don’t even have blankets. We can’t feed our children,” they wrote.
For now, Oliinykova prays.
Oliinykova said that she is a Christian and it is very difficult for her to hate Russia.
“And I know they are shocked. They are so hateful that I don’t know what to do. They also send young boys to the war. She asked, “How do we get through all this?” “I believe we need more love and less hate.”
