FLEEING UKRAINE | KAIROS GLOBAL | JULY 2022

Author: Jonas Joseph

Intro: Jonas Joseph recounts fleeing Ukraine at the start of the war, and the harrowing days that followed. 

One morning I got a call from one of my friends in Ukraine asking whether I was safe. I felt confused at first but guessed something was wrong. He explained saying that war had started and that my location was one of the targets of the Russian forces as a Ukraine military base was located near my town, Zhytomyr.

Looking down through the windows, I noticed an air of panic on the roads. There was a long queue in front of the ATM and unusual traffic on the roads very soon. Military vehicles were patrolling continuously. I could see a hustle around the petrol bunk and in front of the supermarket. Things changed upside down all of a sudden and a shudder of uncertainty suddenly caught me. When friends at the hostel knocked on my door, I was shocked to see them standing outside all packed. They told me that we were alerted to move immediately and it was an emergency situation in our town. I felt numb and couldn’t move an inch. For no reason, I was initially reluctant to move as I had nowhere to go but my friends somehow persuaded me and packed my things and put me in a car. The helplessness on the faces of Ukrainians in the hostel was heart-breaking. I had my homeland to return to but they had nowhere to go.

We were taken to Lviv, almost 700 km away from Zhytomyr. Poland's border was just 72 km from Lviv and we could escape through Poland. I had not eaten anything since that morning, but we couldn’t wait for a second as we had to reach the Polish border at the earliest. All the foreign students gathered in Lviv moved to the border in taxis. But on reaching, the police stopped us saying that we couldn’t cross borders on foot, but only in vehicles. Sadly, no vehicle crossing the border agreed to take us along.

I slowly understood the seriousness of the situation and trusting fully in the mercy of God, we continued to seek help to cross the border somehow.

Finally, the policemen agreed to take us to another border in their vehicles, but we couldn’t reach the destination due to traffic blocks. All of us got down in the traffic and headed on foot toward the second border, walking almost 20 km on that stretch with luggage on our backs, hungry and tired. Holding tightly to my rosary and feeble prayers inside, I somehow managed to reach the second border with my friends. But things were not easy. It was night by the time we reached there. Military forces stopped us from crossing and the gates were closed. We had to stay in that place on the street for another two days to cross to Poland. It was pathetic as there was no food, water or even toilets available to the foreign students camped there. Total helplessness and fatigue pulled me down, still, I found my refuge in God and kept my spirit lit.

The queue was long and people were tired and collapsing. I too felt like losing myself and fainted in the queue. This helped and I was taken to another side for medical aid by the military. I was put back in another queue in which I had to wait for another one and half days for my turn. Food was bare and water came in rations, just to wet our throats. The freezing climate, with temperatures ranging from -4 to -10 degrees made things even worse. The situation for small children and senior citizens was tougher.

Jesus Youth friends used to call and strengthen me all through the journey and I felt strong with their support. I asked my Lord in prayers to hold me in his hands and I strongly believed that my good God would help me to survive.

But by the time I reached the immigration office, I choked again and came out of the queue, but by God’s grace, a few friends spotted me and pulled me up to be back in the queue. After two days of exhausted waiting in the queue, I got the immigration clearance to cross to Poland. I was surprised to see the Jesus Youth friends waiting for us at Poland’s side of the border. They connected me to the Indian Embassy and Jincy Peter helped us from there to get back home. I was asked to bring along as many students as possible to move together and though tired and exhausted, with God’s grace, I managed to gather many stranded students to clear immigration and move out with the help of volunteers in Poland. We finally managed to have some food too there.

We felt hopeful and headed back to our homelands thanking God for keeping us safe and alive.

Jonas Joseph was a student in Ukraine. At present he lives with his family in Trivandrum, India.