Ukraine crisis: Ukrainian regulations restrict men aged 18-60 from crossing the border.
Snina / Medyka:
Tens of thousands of Ukrainians, mostly women and children, traveled to Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia on Friday when Russian missiles hit the capital Kyiv and beloved combat-age men. ask to stay.
Many people waited for hours in icy conditions to leave Ukraine after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion.
Iryna, 36, and her mother set off from Kyiv on Thursday with their two-year-old and 4-year-old daughters, before heading to Ubla in Slovakia.
“We left my husband there, so he’s still there supporting our government,” she said Friday at a hotel in the border town of Snina. “We pray for Ukraine and I hope everything goes well,” she said.
In Poland, which has the region’s largest Ukrainian community of about 1 million, authorities say wait times to cross the border range from 6 to 12 hours in some places.
In Medyka in southern Poland, 85 kilometers (52 miles) from Lviv in western Ukraine, roads are packed with cars, policemen directing traffic and people hugging loved ones after they arrive the Polish side. An internet map website shows a third of the road is congested with heavy traffic.
Ukrainian regulations restrict men between the ages of 18-60, who may be drafted into the army, from crossing the border.
Marta Buach, 30, from Lviv, said her husband is not allowed to interact with her. “In Lviv it was okay but in other cities it was a real disaster. Kyiv was shelled, other small cities were also shelled, we heard bombs everywhere.”
“I think it is only a matter of time before it becomes as dangerous as other cities,” she said.
United Nations aid agencies say the war could send as many as 5 million people abroad. They said fuel, cash and medical supplies had run out in parts of Ukraine.
Border authorities said 29,000 people entered Poland from Ukraine on Thursday, and about half said they were fleeing war. In Romania, more than 10,000 Ukrainians arrived on Thursday, and nearly 3,000 in Slovakia.
Polish Deputy Interior Minister Pawel Szefernaker said Ukrainian bus drivers cannot drive across the border because men of military age are being held in Ukraine.
Michal Mielniczuk, a spokesman for the Podkarpackie region in southern Poland, said that temporary accommodation is being provided to arrivals.
“Most continue to other places across Poland after receiving a warm meal,” he told the PAP news agency.
Blood donation, Meal
According to a Reuters witness, on the border with northern Romania, women cried as they said goodbye to loving men as they made their way to Sighetu Marmatiei, a remote town on the banks of the Tisa river.
Local media in Romania said long lines had formed as cars waited to board a ferry across the Danube to Isaccea, a town located between Moldova and the Black Sea.
The Slovak government urged people to donate blood and set up hospitals with 5,380 beds to be assigned to the military or NATO.
Across Central Europe, on NATO’s eastern flank, volunteers have posted messages on social media to organize housing and transport for people coming from the border.
Activists have set up hot food and beverage distribution points and veterinarians are providing pet care.
Authorities in Poland and Romania have lifted pandemic quarantine rules for people arriving from outside the European Union, and from Friday Ukrainians can get a COVID-19 vaccine in Poland.
Hungary said it would open a humanitarian corridor for citizens from third-party countries such as Iran or India to leave Ukraine, allowing them to enter without a visa and taking them to the nearest airport in Debrecen. At border crossings, Ukrainian cars line up 3-5 km long.
Bulgaria has begun issuing passports to its citizens in Kyiv who need travel documents and has dispatched four buses to the Ukrainian capital to evacuate people.
Three buses, carrying about 130 Bulgarians, will leave Odessa on Friday, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. About 250,000 ethnic Bulgarians live in Ukraine.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
