International Women’s Day Fanny Fassar reports from a women’s shelter in Chernivtsi, where volunteers provide food and protection to 120 internally displaced women and children. The shelter, which before the war provided a safe haven for victims of domestic abuse, has opened its doors to refugees fleeing further east. Many women also support the war effort by baking bread or sewing for front-line fighters.
In the capital, Mathias Bölinger describes the situation on March 8 as tense. People know that Kyiv has been a “primary target” since the start of the war. Despite the bombings in the northern suburbs of the city, Bölinger says he has seen no signs of significant Russian advance. Trains continue to move and transport people from the suburbs to Central Station, where they hope to reach destinations in the west, in Lviv and then in Poland or Slovakia.
Nick Connolly, also based in Kyiv, explains that there is now a huge amount of bad blood between Russian and Ukrainian fighters, with “hundreds of soldiers dying on both sides” and very little hope that they will negotiate soon. He sees a growing sense of “frustration with the West” following NATO’s refusal to close the skies to Russian attacks. There is a growing sense among Ukrainians that they can only rely on themselves and the Ukrainian army, Connolly said.
Head of DW’s Brussels office Alexandra von Nahmen, citing from Lviv in western Ukraine, says many residents believe it is only a matter of time before war breaks out in their city. Meanwhile, they are doing everything they can to help refugees arriving from the east, but authorities are struggling with limited resources. Von Nahman reports that the mayor said he was concerned that the city might not have enough places to house all the displaced.
He describes the stories of women who fled from Mariupol and Kharkiv as “heartbreaking”. She was told that they had to leave their elderly mothers behind, with no food or water and no contact with the outside world.
Anna Phil has also made reports from Lviv, where he says the situation has worsened. Thousands of people crowded at the train station, waiting in a huge queue for a stop on a train heading west.
“People standing on it can not even say exactly where they are going,” he says. “They know there are trains going to Poland every two hours. They do not know in which city this train will take them, and it basically does not matter.” For these refugees, who have fled fighting and rocket attacks, wherever is best.
Tessa Walther is located in Przemysl, Poland, where he has seen heartbreaking scenes on the border with Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands of women and children have fled to the neighboring country, leaving their husbands behind. “What people really need right now is a little time to rest, a little time to process what they have seen,” he says.
He says volunteers here “have come from everywhere”, from all over Europe and from India and Canada, to help, some working “24 hours a day”.
Monika Sieradzka was also in Przemysl, where he spoke to many frightened children who have seen the horrors of war up close. “A new generation of European refugees is transporting the baggage of trauma into their new lives,” says Sieradzka.
Report from Krakow, Poland, Max Zander met with refugees at a youth center that helps children forget their problems. He says people from all over Poland have come to his aid.
You can follow DW correspondents on Twitter at @dwnews
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