Winter and war at Ukraine's edge

“Two or three months ago, the accommodation center was full after the trains for the day arrived, by 8 or 9 pm.” Igor explains. “Now the center is completely full by noon. After the first train, it is full.

“In the last few days there were from 100 to 200 people sleeping at the train station either waiting for the next train or waiting till the place in accommodation center is free.”

Katarzyna Komar-Macyńska, or Kasia, the manager at Ukrainian House recalls the first days of the war: “The train was supposed to have several hundred of passengers but instead had thousands. We had trains from Kyiv and Odessa; a trip that usually it took 6 or so hours, sometimes took 20-30 hours. Those were absolutely not humane conditions, people weren’t able to use toilet during their journey. They were traveling in complete darkness because of the fear of shelling.”

Kasia, the staff and volunteers, mostly Ukrainian themselves, have been working since the war began to help refugees with problems ranging from severe illness to immigration, housing and employment issues. Together with CARE and Polish Humanitarian Action, Ukrainian House provides multipurpose financial assistance in the form of cash cards for refugees. They also provide meals, transportation and housing assistance, psychosocial assistance, language courses and other services.

To date, over 7.5 million refugees have crossed the border into Poland, with 1.4 million registered for protection in Poland, the most of any nation in Europe. The team at Ukrainian House often assisted refugees to find longer-term accommodation options in Poland, or elsewhere.

As the weather gets colder, Kasia is becoming more and more anxious.

“We realize that we are seeing a second wave of refugees coming,” she says. “And we have fears that when Ukraine has a lack of gas and lack of heating and it starts getting colder. And prices on food products are going up. There will be a lack of food if we have new big wave of refugees.”

Kasia, Igor, and the rest of the team are faced with difficult new problems daily, but still remain resilient and focused. CARE is continuing to help Ukrainian House prepare for the Ukrainians who are being forced to leave their homes behind this winter and arrive in Przemyśl.