Of the more than 670,000 refugees who have fled war in Ukraine, many are women and children who have left their husbands, fathers, brothers and sons behind to fight in Ukraine’s resistance to the deadly Russian invasion.
Refugees arrive from Ukraine at the border crossing Vysne Nemecke, Slovakia, Tuesday, March 1, 2022. – Of the hundreds of refugees gathered on the grounds of a village school in eastern Hungary, almost all were women and children who left their husbands, fathers, brothers and sons behind to fight in Ukraine's resistance to the deadly Russian invasion.
Irina Yarimchuk, an accountant from the western Ukrainian town of Kalush, traveled the five hours to the Hungarian village of Tiszabecs early Tuesday with her 14-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter. “From that day ... we stay outside our home every evening,” she said of the five panicked nights before she left. “I was afraid for my children.”
In Poland, too, it was largely Ukrainian women arriving with their children as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces intensified their attacks on civilian targets in a campaign that is becoming deadlier for children.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the European Parliament on Tuesday that Russian forces had killed 16 children the day before as he appealed to EU leaders to accept Ukraine in the bloc.
“Sorry,” he said, taking a moment to compose himself. “It’s terrible, because it was so unexpected and nobody was prepared for this situation, and we believe that we will see them soon. I’m sure that we will see them soon.”“We’re staying here and we have to volunteer and we will do here what we can do here in Lviv, and if we will need, we will go to Kyiv to fight,” he said.
Back in Hungary, many of the women and children at the school in Tiszabecs hoped to reach destinations in the Czech Republic and Poland, but difficulties arose arranging transport from the remote village on the Ukrainian border.