Ukraine refugees pour into Romania to avoid crowded Polish border

A Ukrainian mother and her child walk at the Siret border point with Ukraine in Siret city March 1, 2022. AFP

SIGHETU MARMATIEI, Romania — Refugees from Ukraine on Tuesday were flocking into Romania to escape Russia’s invasion — and avoid massive jams at the Polish border.

In Sighetu Marmatiei, a city that sits right at Romania’s border with Ukraine, volunteers were handing out hot tea, coffee and pizza, as well as flowers and little charms to mark the beginning of spring, which is celebrated on Tuesday across the country.

Ernest Lindhal said he fled with his girlfriend from Kyiv at first to the western city of Lviv, but felt scared there too, so hired a driver to take them to Romania.

“We thought about crossing through Poland but we heard that there was such a massive line and that people have been waiting for so long,” the 30-year-old translator told AFP.

“In Lviv there are also sirens, and it’s super scary. So many people are coming, and there’s not a lot of places to stay,” he said.

More than 660,000 refugees have fled the conflict in Ukraine for safety in neighbouring countries, while around a million people are estimated to be internally displaced, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said Tuesday.

Romanian authorities said Monday that more than 70,000 people had arrived from Ukraine, with more than half already moved on to other countries.

Some 370 have applied for asylum in Romania, which is one of the EU’s poorest members.

Most are passing through Siret in the north of the country, where a camp has been set up, along with a second near Sighetu Marmatiei.

‘Take the children and go’

Another woman, Natascha Zibrov, 43, who traveled with her 20-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son, as well as her sister-in-law said the family would try to reach Poland later.

They didn’t go to Lviv as they had heard from friends they had been waiting there with for two days, spending nights in the car outside with two little kids.

“It’s very terrible at the Poland border. So we said no,” Zibrov said, adding her husband stayed behind in a town, which is part of Kyiv.

“My husband said: take the children and go…. He’s a church pastor so he is staying to encourage people, to help emotionally,” she said.

“He’s a welder and he’s making barricades against tanks to secure the town.”

Eugene Jumbo, 19, standing next to tables set up by volunteers handing out water and sandwiches, said he didn’t know yet where to go now.

“I left Kharkiv (city in northeastern Ukraine) on Saturday. I was too scared to stay,” the university student from Nigeria said.

Ukraine’s second biggest city Kharkiv has been hit by Russian shelling, and Ukraine said 10 people were killed Tuesday and many more injured.

Jumbo travelled to Lviv, then took a train for six hours and then hired a car for 8,000 Ukrainian hryvina (240 euros, $270) to drive another three hours to reach Sighetu Marmatiei.

“The train stations were a mess, everything was so crowded… I am tired, and I will take a rest for a few days,” he said.

“Lviv is too crowded. It’s not possible to cross there anymore, I didn’t try. I knew this was better.”

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