Crossing Europe to support Ukrainians: 'I could only think about helping my people'

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in the early hours of February 24, has sparked a mass exodus of people desperate to flee to safety. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that around 2 million have already left the war-torn country as of Tuesday, March 8. Some of them will end up in Catalonia.

The Catalan News Agency traveled to Poland, near the Ukrainian border, where they spoke with refugees and volunteers living in Catalonia and beyond alike. Here are some of their stories:

"I could only think about helping my people"

"We're here to pick up people who don't have anything," Sergi, a young Ukrainian man who lives in the Costa Brava, told the Catalan News Agency from a train station in Katowice, Poland.

"Since the war started, I could only think about helping my people," he explained. This is what motivated him and his friend Miguel, a fellow Ukrainian who lives is southern Spain, to drive 2,800 kilometers to Eastern Europe.

They will drive back to Catalonia with Nona and her baby, who hope to meet up with a relative in the seaside town of Palamós, as well as seven other refugees. "We know there are a lot of women and children here. There are also a lot of people who are offering to house them," Sergi said.

Sergi and Miguel have arranged for trucks to transport humanitarian aid from Catalonia to Poland.  But they themselves will not be embarking on this journey again any time soon: "It's much better to talk to refugees who want to go to Spain on social media and to charter a big bus."

Sisu: wanted for questioning, on his way back with refugees

Sisu, who like Sergi lives in the Costa Brava area, is wanted for questioning in Catalonia regarding a 2019 protest that blocked the highway to France off to traffic in the wake of the sentencing of the independence leaders.

Sisu, however, decided to travel to Przemysl with his friend Robert instead of going to court. They brought food and clothes with them, which they gave to a German NGO in the area, and will return to Catalonia with refugees.

"Some will go on to Figueres and others will go to the town of Folgueroles," Robert said. "But we'll set up in L'Escala where people will be able to go pick up their relatives."

Finding a new home in Germany

Yana, who up until recently lived in the Ukrainian capital, is one of the many refugees who arrived in Przemysl, Poland, the first stop for trains fleeing the war-torn country. It here that she met Gerhard, who will drive her and her kids to a German town near the Dutch border where he and his wife have a vacation home they can stay at.  

"My children are big and out of the house," Gerhard said. "My wife and I decided to help because we couldn't only look and do nothing."

"I am very happy when I found this man," she told the Catalan News Agency. "In Ukraine, there is a war and it is very bad. We lived in the metro station for four days and then we took a train to Poland. I am a pharmacist and I want to work in Germany," she explained.

Yana, whose parents are in Luhansk, hopes to be able to return to Ukraine in the future. "I want to go back but I don't know if I can," she said.