Many Ukrainians from the diaspora return across the Polish border to fight and prevent their country from falling into the hands of the enemy
Most come in not very large groups. They stand out for their youth, shaved heads, with a ‘zhub’ look (Ukrainian Cossack, with shaved sides and a Mohawk-style ponytail in the center), tattoos, camouflage clothing and light luggage. They respond in monosyllables, they don’t want cameras and look down if one focuses on them. They queue up like the rest and wait for the security agent to give them the green light to enter the Medyka border crossing in southeastern Poland. Russia’s attack on Ukraine has caused an exodus of civilians and more than 100,000 have already entered the neighboring country in the last 72 hours, according to data from the Warsaw authorities.
But there are also Ukrainians who take the opposite path. They return home and do so with only one idea in mind: to fight Russia. Yaroslav has just arrived with “two friends.” When the attacks began, he left Ukraine with the aim of recruiting compatriots who live in Poland and want to fight again. He has already approached twelve and tomorrow he has another four waiting for him to make the same journey back home. “It’s my obligation, my way of serving the country, but in a week I’ll be the one crossing the border and picking up the Kalashnikov,” he says.
He speaks as he says goodbye to Max and Oleg, whom he has picked up in Krakow and who are on their way to Khmelnitsky. “Each combatant tries to serve his city, the place he knows best. There he contacts the Army and they immediately assign him to a defense position », explains Yaroslav. The call-up forces them to leave the life they had built outside their country, but “it is an obligation and that is why I call on all Ukrainians in the diaspora to come home and fight”, concludes this recruiter.
Martial law
President Volodymyr Zelensky declared martial law and all men between the ages of 18 and 60 must attend the call-up. This means that most of the refugees fleeing in the last few hours are women and children. The men stay, the authorities even distribute weapons among the civilians and from Poland these young people arrive as reinforcements, whom the conflict has surprised outside and who want to join the defense of the country.
Some do not stop their firm steps towards the border when asked why they are going home. Dimitri already fought in the 2014 war and returns “to defend Kiev”. “The capital is the heart, the key to this war and I want to be there so that it does not fall into the hands of the enemy.” The conversation occurs almost on the run. He carries a backpack on his back, his head covered with a wool hat and keeps his gaze straight ahead. “The situation is dangerous, but I am not afraid. I haven’t thought twice about going back. We are going to win this war », he assures with extreme seriousness.
Among those waiting to cross the border there is a strange mix. On the one hand, there are the combatants, but on the other there is a significant number of people who do it to rescue family members. This is the case of Alexia, who has flown urgently from France to pick up her 3-year-old daughter, Sofía, and return to Paris together. “He waits for me on the other side, I am going to cross, hug him and return without spending more than a minute in Ukraine because it is no longer a safe country,” she says.
Every day that passes increases the number of refugees, but this time Poland opens the doors of Europe to newcomers. The more people come, the better the organization and the more volunteers come from all over the world to help. Some leave in search of safety and to leave the war behind, others return to take up arms and “make Ukraine remain Ukraine for many years.” “What is at stake is the survival of the country in which we were born,” thinks Yaroslav, who has less and less time to leave his recruiting duties and go to the line of an ever-expanding front.
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