Sean Murray: A town the size of Crosshaven that is the first port of hope for so many Ukrainians
Women and children crossing from Ukraine to Medyka in Poland on Wednesday. This small town in the southeast of the country has been one of the busiest border crossings. Photo: AP/Daniel Cole
Medyka is a tiny town which has a population roughly that of Crosshaven in Cork. More than half of the two million people who have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion have gone to Poland and this small town in the southeast of the country has been one of the busiest border crossings.
Tens of thousands arrive each day at Medyka and nearby Przemsyl and so it is where most of the world's media has descended to witness the mainly women and children fleeing. When they arrive they’re greeted by aid agencies distributing all manner of supplies.
At one stall, hot dogs are being prepared to hand over to refugees as they pass. Another man has made a large vat of a soup to which one can add a hard-boiled egg - a traditional Polish dish, I’m told. Volunteers have also arrived from all over to do what they can.
Outside the main train station in Przemysl. Hundreds waiting for their onward journey. As I arrived a big coach with a German reg with signs saying “Peace for Ukraine” took refugees onboard to head off. pic.twitter.com/1ZWLuLc8D0
— Sean Murray (@SeanMJourno) March 9, 2022
The welcome is certainly warm for the people who’ve had to flee their homes with little more than what they can carry in a wheelie suitcase and a backpack. Without doubt, the Poles have risen tremendously to the task of helping their neighbours in their hour of need.
Polish charities link in with global organisations to provide the help and supplies on the ground. Ordinary Poles have given up their jobs to come and help or are offering space in their homes for people to stay, just like so many Irish have.
There are buses continuously coming along and filling up with people to make their way onwards. Many have already travelled huge distances to get to Poland, to escape as their town or city is under attack.
At the Medyka border crossing. Cars coming from Ukraine. And then dozens of vans laden with aid waiting to cross the border from Poland into Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/s7BRaAt2mP
— Sean Murray (@SeanMJourno) March 9, 2022
One striking aspect amidst the crowds is the sheer number of women and children. Many of their husbands, brothers and fathers have stayed behind as men of fighting age have been told to remain.
Going the other way, traffic is backed up as far as the eye can see as aid deliveries seek to get into Ukraine. Vans visibly laden down wait to head over the border. Ten minutes' drive away is the town of Przemysl. The disused Tesco acting as a makeshift humanitarian aid centre is still thronged.
Another five minutes up the road in the town centre is its main rail station. It has a direct rail link to Lviv, just over the border, and the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. It is thronged with people throughout the day.
There are signs everywhere in Ukrainian informing people of where they can get hot food, something to drink, even a sim card. They gather with their suitcases, their plastic bags and sit and wait - either to be told where they’re going next or to finally begin that trip.
Oleksandra is there with her mother and her younger sisters, and appears to be in her early 20s. “It has broken our hearts to leave,” she said. They travelled from Lviv, and are planning on going to Estonia.
That sense of “we did nothing wrong” is a common one. These people have fled from bombs and from bullets in a war that started on the whim of Vladimir Putin. The images from Irpin at the weekend, where a family of four was struck by mortar fire, are among the images likely to live long in the memory.
“I didn’t want to leave,” another woman tells me. “But we have to. It’s so dangerous. They are killing civilians. They are killing us.” She says her family wants to go to Germany.
Just outside the train station, people line up for the next minibus or coach to come along to take them to their next destination.
In the space of just 10 minutes, a caravan with a British registration plate, a bus with a French registration and a German-reg coach pulls up. People quickly board the German bus which bears the Ukrainian flag and the message “Peace for Ukraine”.
The support being offered is coming in thick and fast and on a massive scale. So many countries and communities are stepping up to play their part, including the huge support coming from Ireland.
But the facts don’t change. Roughly one in 25 people who lived in Ukraine have now left it in the past two weeks, fleeing a war that’s claimed the lives of thousands of civilians.
Even with all the good will, the aid and the hospitality being shown from so many corners of the world towards them, the Ukrainians board these buses unsure as to what happens next. What will be the fate of the country it has broken their hearts to leave?
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