Sisters recount how they fled from Kiev between bombings to reach Poland

More than twelve hours it took the Ecuadorian sisters Carolina and Diana Constante to reach the Ukrainian border with Poland from Kiev, from where they left on Thursday quickly and running after the first bombings carried out by Russian aviation.

“It was taking the most essential: some clothes, shoes, personal hygiene and some imperishable food. We got in the car and left,” Carolina said in a telephone conversation with Efe while they made a kilometric line to cross the border crossing with Poland.

After learning of the first military attacks in the early hours of Thursday, neither Carolina nor Diana thought twice and headed west, a few hours before the situation in the Ukrainian capital was complicated by the advance of the armed forces Russian to that city.

(In context: Facebook says Russia sanctioned it for fact-checking.)

“I think it was the most appropriate decision, because what we see on social networks is that they have already begun to attack Kyiv and they destroyed a bridge. It is more likely that they are no longer letting out. We left Kiev at 10:00 p.m. and they were already closing the entrance,” Carolina said.

These two sisters are part of the 700 Ecuadorians who are in Ukraine, most of them university students who were studying in some of the cities most affected by the intense Russian military intervention.

“Some managed to get out three days ago on the last few flights, which were very expensive, but they got out. Now there are no flights, there are hardly any trains and the roads are very congested,” said Carolina, who recently completed a master’s degree in public relations. international.

Food and gasoline are scarce

On that route there are also numerous people who have set out to try to reach Poland, including other Latin American citizens, such as several Colombians who have met along the way, as well as African immigrants from countries such as Nigeria.

However, as the hours go by, supplies are scarce, since they have already verified that “food at gas stations is running out, and gasoline is running out, because there are places where there is no more gasoline,” warned Carolina, who also travels with his son.

(You may be interested in: Ukraine: newborns are taken to a bomb shelter due to the conflict).

“It is a bit worrying because the country is in a state of emergency and money is not exchanged. Banks are closed and they are not giving money. Only at ATMs can you withdraw a maximum of 3,000 hryvnias (100 dollars) a day,” he lamented.

Neither Carolina nor Diana have yet been able to process the magnitude of the moment they are experiencing, since they indicated that until the day before the Russian invasion began, life was normal in Kiev.

“I thought that nothing was going to happen. Everything was in speculation and news, but we never thought that the president of Russia was going to take these actions. It took us all by surprise,” admitted Carolina.

More than eight hours of waiting

At the time of the last communication, these two Ecuadorian sisters had been waiting for more than eight hours in a long line of vehicles that want to go to Poland, a step that is being made in groups of ten cars.

His plan is to reach Warsaw, one of the cities where the Government of Ecuador has sent diplomats to serve Ecuadorians who want to leave Ukraine and facilitate their transit through Europe. In the case of these sisters, once they manage to enter Poland, their intention is to take a flight to Spain, where the Ecuadorian consular mission has guaranteed them a stay of 15 days.

(More like this: Colombian in Ukraine rules out returning to Colombia after Russian invasion).

Then they will assess whether they return to Ecuador or stay in Spain, since there they also have relatives who can host them while waiting to follow the events in Ukraine. Not all Ecuadorians in Ukraine were able to move as quickly as they were and had to stay in their homes or in subway stations along with the rest of the local population seeking shelter from the bombings.

More news

59 Colombians have already been evacuated from Ukraine, according to the Foreign Ministry

War in Ukraine: ‘We will be fine’, journalist’s message to his family

The last words of 13 Ukrainian soldiers who faced Russian ship

Putin is ready to send a delegation to negotiate with Ukraine

Ukraine collects facts to denounce Russia before the ICC

EFE news agency.