They left their chickens, goats and dogs with their neighbors and now, retired Ludmila * and Vasile have finally reached the point where the borders of Ukraine, Moldova and Romania meet.
The couple comes from a village near the Ukrainian city of Tatarbunary, about halfway between Odessa and the Romanian port city of Galati.
They managed to pack their most important belongings in a small red suitcase – now weighing about 10 kilograms (22 pounds) – and dragged it for about an hour and a half, walking from the Ukrainian border post in the city of Giurgiulesti, Moldova. The city is located at the junction of the three borders.
It has only 2 degrees Celsius (35.6 Fahrenheit) outside and a strong wind is blowing. The faces of the elderly couple are red from the cold, they both freeze. They are exhausted from the long walk.
Ludmila is sad and nervous. Although they travel all night, they do not want to take the bus.
“It would be even more awful,” Ludmila told DW. “To see so many unmarried mothers on the bus with their babies.”
“I could no longer bear to hear those poor children cry, knowing they had no home to return to,” her husband added.
Before leaving Ukraine, they had heard in the news that a Russian attack was expected between 2 in the morning and 5 in the morning. “When should you sleep?” Ludmila asked. “How are you supposed to live like that?”
However, the elderly couple does not want to talk about Russia, politics or war. They still seem worried about blaming anyone for the dramatic situation they are in now.
Heading west
They were looking forward to a quiet retirement, they admitted. “After decades of hard work, we wanted to enjoy some more wonderful years,” Vassile explained, noting that they had both worked their whole lives. “Instead, we must escape a war.”
A Romanian border guard called Ludmila’s cousin from her own mobile phone and asked her to come and pick up the couple at Giurgiulesti. Until the cousin arrives, Ukrainian retirees wait in a large room where Romanian volunteers share tea and coffee.
But Ludmila and Vassile do not want anything to eat or drink. They just want to get as far away from the Ukrainian border as possible.
Where will they go? After a long discussion, they finally, hesitantly, reveal that they have two adult children who have been living in Austria for a long time. They hope to make it there.
Thousands of Ukrainian refugees make the same journey every day, crossing the border into Giurgiulesti, although most do so in their own vehicles.
According to local authorities, about 75% of them travel to the western border of Romania. As of Saturday, Romania’s interior ministry had reported that nearly 2,400 Ukrainian refugees had already applied for asylum.
Countless volunteers
In this border area, you also see many expensive cars. They probably belong to the most prosperous Ukrainians living around Odessa. A white Audi Q7, one of the luxury cars of the German car industry, roars with speed as the border patrol checks the documents of the driver and co-driver.
This bothers Mariana *, a volunteer who helps newcomers. “So many refugees are frozen here and have no means of transportation, and there are only the two of them in such a big car,” he complained. Mariana has been standing in the cold for three hours and handing out free calling cards.
She is actually Ukrainian, although she has lived in Romania for the past 15 years. Ever since the war started a week ago, she volunteered and acted as a translator. Fortunately, she said, her parents were visiting her in Romania when the war broke out and they had arrived the day before the start of the Russian invasion.
Everything is well organized on the Romanian side and things are moving fast. Unfortunately for anyone traveling through this triangular border area, they will also need to cross the Moldovan border crossing, and here are some of the longer queues.
However, in both countries there was great support and solidarity for the Ukrainian arrivals. There are countless volunteers everywhere, and there is also free transportation and emergency accommodation. Many buses with Moldovan license plates carry refugees to the largest city in Galati, Romania, about 30 minutes away.
Never back
A 46-year-old librarian from the Ukrainian city of Kiliya arrives in Giurgiulesti with a friend. They both have two children and prefer not to mention their names.
This is actually the second time he has had to leave, the librarian told DW. He had to leave Crimea in 2014 when Russia illegally annexed the region. The librarian said she did not want to hear about Russia again and said she would never return.
She locked the door of her Kiliya apartment – she had just bought it – turned around and did not look back, she said. As a divorced mother, she has been taking care of her children alone for a long time and said that she will take any job offered to her.
Starting again in a strange country will not be easy, he admitted, especially because he has to learn another language. But she wants to do what she can to give her children a better future and a good education.
“So that they would never have to return to the Soviet Union,” she explained, adding that she was never happy there, not even as a small child.
The librarian told DW that she already felt better here in Giurgiulesti because there were no more air raid sirens. She did not yet know what the future held for her or her children, but she had a wish for the man who had made them lose their home, not once but twice.
“I would like to see Putin in prison,” he said.
* Editor’s note: DW did not publish surnames for security reasons
This text was originally published in Romanian and translated by Dana Alexandra Scherle
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