I fled my home with sick, hungry daughter, 7, and one bag – pray for my parents and grandmother still in Ukraine
IN a bitter wind beside a bus destined for the Polish border, fleeing Elena Mokrenitsa wept uncontrollably.
Perhaps not wanting to cry in her presence, she’d left daughter Juliana, seven, in woolly kitten hat and pink parka, onboard.
Now Elena was taking a solitary moment to say goodbye to her beloved homeland where her parents remain.
As the bus’s exhaust fumes billowed in the -7C air, Elena tells me Juliana is “sick, coughing and scared”.
Like thousands of others, they had been met at transit hub Lviv in western Ukraine by Red Cross volunteers dispensing hot food, warm clothing and compassion.
As the desperate and hungry arrive from all points east, the charity helps them on to shuttle buses bound for Poland in an orderly and sensitive fashion.
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Elena and Julianna fled battle-scarred Chenihiv - in northern Ukraine - where 47 innocents perished in an air strike last week.
The pharmacy worker fled with Juliana following the “destruction of our town, our hospital, our school, our home”.
The tearful mum added: “The siren sounds every hour, we were hiding every hour, we were taken from the fifth floor to a cold basement.
“We didn’t have anything to eat, we had to leave. We don’t have any clothes, or any stuff, one bag and that's all. It’s awful.”
Now they will start a new life in Poland where Elena’s husband Sergey - who is a driver in Germany - will meet them.
The mum added: “My parents and my grandmother are still in Chernihiv.
“I hope and pray that they’ll be okay and I can return to my city. I hope it ends.”
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Builder turned life-saver for Red Cross
Historic Lviv - Ukraine’s sixth largest city that once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire - is the main transit hub from refugees fleeing for their lives to the West.
More than two million people have already left Ukraine, in what the United Nations calls the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.
At the city’s teeming station, Red Cross workers are here to console, offer sustenance and help begin putting broken lives back together.
Laden with juices, sweets and chocolate, volunteer Diana Fylypets, 24, meets a group of traumatised mothers and children arriving by train from Ohtyrka in northern Ukraine.
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The Ukraine Crisis Appeal will support people in areas currently affected and those potentially affected in the future by the crisis.
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In the chill of the station square, women and children form a snaking queue through tents emblazoned with a welcoming red cross.
There are few men. Those aged 18 to 60 have remained at home to fight.
'We left our husbands behind and our city alone'
In a picture of innocence, Zhenya giggles and dashes through the throng with friends Ksenia and Melania, both six.
Another from conflict-ravaged Ohtyrka, Elen Miroshnikova - mum of Ksenia - told me: “We left our husbands behind and left our city alone.
“Government buildings and a thermal power plant were destroyed, we didn’t have any electricity, water or gas. It was so cold and scary.
“We don’t know where we are going and what will happen to us in the future.”
The weary mother says the Red Cross - which is backed by The Sun’s Ukraine Appeal - is a godsend.
The 38-year-old revealed: “When we were on the train the children had eaten all we had. We arrived here very hungry.
“The Red Cross fed us and gave us hot tea and coffee. There were even some sweets and juices.
“There are tents here where we can get warm and charge our phones.”
“So thank you so much Red Cross.”
Red Cross worker Diana shows me a storage tent crammed with children’s clothes, hearty food and nappies
A seamstress by trade, Diana's job is to make sure refugees arriving from the conflict zone get a square meal before passing on their way.
The volunteer added: “We have soups, pasta, breakfast cereals and make sure we have hot food for people arriving at all times.
“We have enough food for today but we need more for the future. More refugees are coming.”
Told about Sun readers’ generous donations to the Red Cross through our Ukraine Appeal, Diana said: “Thank you very much, honestly from our hearts.
“You are the best. You are supporting these little children who aren’t guilty of anything. I want to cry about this.
“Without this kindness we have received from across the world, I don’t know what would have happened to us.”
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Back at the bus queue Elena and Juliana’s coach is now full with the help of Red Cross volunteers and will soon depart for their uprooted new life in Poland.
Saying our goodbyes, the mum tells me: “Good people took care of us.”
