Julia Varosherska, 20, looks on as she and other people who fled Ukraine after the Russian invasion arrive by bus in Athens, late Monday, Feb. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
ATHENS – They left the war behind them, fleeing Russia’s invasion of their country, but the horror followed them all the way to Greece, where nearly 6,000 Ukrainian refugees found sanctuary and at least a temporary home.
In a feature, Agence France-Presse reported on the plight and fear and mental toll of being uprooted during a war and settling in another country, even one with ties to Greece, with Greeks having lived in Mariupol, Ukraine for centuries.
“I’m terrified of the war. I want this to end quickly so I can go back home,” said a 15-year-old girl who wasn’t named, but said she spent 25 hours on a bus from the western Ukrainian city of Lviv to the Greek-Bulgarian border.
Greece had also repatriated nearly 200 of its own nationals including sailors and journalists from Kieve, Mariupol and Odessa, according to the Greek foreign ministry, the report added.
A woman hugs a child as people who fled Ukraine after the Russian invasion arrive by bus in Athens, late Monday, Feb. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Nearly a dozen ethnic Greeks were killed in two villages early in the invasion in what Greece said were Russian airstrikes bute Russia said they were killed by Ukrainian forces and irregulars although critics cited disinformation campaigns.
“Greece is ready to receive Ukrainians and ethnic Greeks coming to our country as war refugees… as a rule, Ukrainians usually go where they have relatives or acquaintances,” Mitarachis told OPEN TV.
Greece is issuing temporary residence permits to Ukrainian refugees, who will be able to stay and work in the country for one year. There are already some 25,000 Ukrainians living in Greece, Mitarachis said, with many employed as household staff and construction workers.
At the Promachonas border crossing, Ukrainian consulate staff are helping to issue registration documents to those who fled without passports and housing them in a container camp for brief periods before trying to find other accommodations.
A child exits a bus as people who fled Ukraine after the Russian invasion arrive by bus in Athens, late Monday, Feb. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
OH, THE INHUMANITY
There numbers there so far were small but the fear was great.
“People are frozen and scared,” said Yiannis, a 52-year-old entrepreneur who has lived in the western Ukrainian city of Khmelnytskyi for the past 20 years, marrying a Ukrainian woman with whom he has an eight-year-old son.
“There are over 10,000 people gathered on the border with Romania and most of them want to come to Greece,” he told AFP.
The migration ministry has said that Greece can accommodate some 30,000 people from Ukraine and Mitarachis said thousands of beds were immediately available in unoccupied migrant camps in the north of the country.
With European Union funding, Greece would also be able to provide hotel accommodation, he said, Ukrainians taking the place of Syrians, Afghans and the refugees from other countries who came before them.
The Greek government has also said there are over 140,000 jobs available in the agriculture sector and some 50,000 in tourism, no reports if any were offered to refugees from other countries seeking asylum but kept in detention camps.
A girl holds a plush doll as people who fled Ukraine after the Russian invasion arrive by bus in Athens, late Monday, Feb. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Albina Koshariuk, 25, told the news agency he wants to work in tourism. “My mother has been living on the island of Crete in recent years. I will go to Athens initially and then settle there,” she said
“I could no longer live in Ukraine in the shelters, fearing death every day,” she said, explaining how bad it is with Russia’s shelling of cities and civilians and not being stopped by the international community who won’t intervene.
“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin is a murderer. I will return to keep on fighting. We will win,” said Koshariuk.
ATHENS - A Mixed Jury Criminal Appeals Court on Friday handed down sentences of life and 15 years imprisonment on the two young men found guilty of the murder and gang rape of 21-year-old student Eleni Topaloudi, imposing the same sentence as that imposed by a lower court.
FALMOUTH, MA – The police in Falmouth have identified the victim in an accident involving a car plunging into the ocean on February 20, NBC10 Boston reported.
PHILADELPHIA – The Federation of Hellenic Societies of Philadelphia and Greater Delaware Valley announced that the Evzones, the Presidential Guard of Greece will be participating in the Philadelphia Greek Independence Day Parade on March 20.
Every weekend, TNH and Clelia Charissis are on a mission, traveling around Greece and the world to highlight places through the people we meet along the way.
Sign up for a subscription
Want to save this article? Get a subscription to access this feature and more!
To purchase a gift subscription, please log out of your account, and purchase the subscription with a new email ID.
On April 2, 2021, we celebrated The National Herald’s 106th Anniversary. Help us maintain our independent journalism and continue serving Hellenism worldwide.
In order to deliver a more personalized, responsive, and improved experience, we use cookies to remember information about how you use this site. By Continuing to access the website, you agree that we will store data in a cookie as outlined in our Privacy Policy.
We use cookies on our site to personalize your experience, bring you the most relevant content, show you the most useful ads, and to help report any issues with our site. You can update your preferences at any time by visiting preferences. By selecting Accept, you consent to our use of cookies. To learn more about how your data is used, visit our cookie policy.
You’re reading 1 of 3 free articles this month. Get unlimited access to The National Herald. or Log In
You’ve reached your limit of free articles for this month. Get unlimited access to the best in independent Greek journalism starting as low as $1/week.