Emmanuel and Sylvester, IT professionals from Nigeria, mentioned they had been heartbroken to depart Kyiv, a metropolis they’ve come to like over the last 4 years. After not leaving their residences for 5 days and sleeping final evening in a bomb shelter, they had been hoping to discover a prepare that might take them west, the place they may cross into the EU and catch a flight house.
“My mom advised me she would kill me earlier than [Putin] if I didn’t go away,” Emmanuel mentioned.
They selected to attempt to attain Hungary, they mentioned, after studying reports that Ukrainian police and border guards have harassed Nigerian residents attempting to flee, and that Polish authorities are denying entry to individuals like them.
Close by, Molvina, a mom of two daughters, ages 10 and 5, wept on the ground of the worldwide corridor of the prepare station. Together with their small terrier Kompot, named after the selfmade fruit juice that’s well-liked on this a part of the world, she hoped they’d be capable to make it to Poland.
“We don’t know what to do after that,” she mentioned. “Every part we’ve is right here now.”
All she may handle to take had been three small baggage of possessions and the canine.
“We hope we shall be again quickly. We will be again quickly,” she mentioned defiantly.
She mentioned she left Georgia for Ukraine after Russia invaded her house nation in 2008. She spent the final 14 years constructing a brand new life, solely to have Putin destroy it but once more.
Behind her, individuals queued on the worldwide room’s France café, which generally serves buttery croissants and steamy cappuccinos. On Tuesday, it offered easy Lipton tea in plastic cups and slices of white bread. Round 2:30 p.m., the tea ran out, so the café handed out scorching water to maintain individuals heat whereas they waited.
