They are unable to make a decision on their own and require careful guidance to get to safety.
After a long and difficult escape from violence in Ukraine, over 200 disabled Ukrainians escaped to Zahony, Hungary on Wednesday.
Many of the refugees are children and have severe mental and physical disabilities. They were evacuated from their homes when the Russian attack on the capital intensified.
“It wasn’t safe to remain there, there were missiles, they were firing at Kyiv,” stated Larissa Leonidovna (director of the Svyatoshinksy Orphanage in Kyiv). “We spent more time underground than we had during a bombing.”
Russia’s increasing attack on Ukraine has forced 1,000,000 people to flee in what one U.N. official predicted would become Europe’s “biggest refugee crises this century.”
After one week of Russian fighting, the U.N. refugee agency recorded an exodus that reached more than 2% of Ukraine’s total population on Wednesday. This is unprecedented in this century.
Nearly 454,000 refugees have fled to Poland. More than 116,300 people have entered Hungary, and more than 79,300 have crossed into Moldova. Other 67,000 refugees fled to Slovakia while 69,000 went to other European countries.
Many of the people fleeing are adults who are capable of making long, sometimes dangerous, journeys to get to safety for their loved ones. Others are dependent on their caregivers to rescue them.
Leonidovna the director of the Kyiv orphanage said, “These children require a lot of care, they have illnesses, and need special attention.”
The children, also from Darnytskyy orphanage, Kyiv, were moved from train to train in groups of 30 and escorted onto buses to be taken to Opole, Poland where they would settle down and receive additional care.
Viktoria Mikolayivna is the deputy director at the Darnytskyy Home. She stated that there are 216 people in total, including the children and their chaperones.
On Wednesday, the cold weather in Eastern Europe made it even more difficult for people fleeing to Ukraine and other countries.
The temperatures were around freezing at the border of Palanca, southern Moldova, which shares a long border to Ukraine. A fresh blanket of snow covered most of the ground.
Mothers with young children were wrapped in blankets and clothes. But the cold weather has made it even more difficult.
Julia, a 32 year-old mother and a three-year-old son, tried to calm their fever-stricken son. She said she felt helpless but was proud of her decision to help her family.
“I thank God that I am able to protect my family, but it was not my intention to leave my country. She told The Associated Press that she had to find another way of protecting her family.
Despite the cold and snow, thousands of refugees fled Ukraine to Romania via Siret border crossing.
Alina Onica (41-year-old Red Cross volunteer) in Siret said that the snow and freezing temperatures are only adding to refugees’ needs and challenges being displaced by the war.
She said that it was more difficult for many to leave their homes just a few days ago and only had their clothes. “They’ve been asking for blankets, gloves, and hats. We hope it will end soon.
Nastya Kononchuk hopes to reach Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, to stay out of the war. She said that she was originally from Odesa, a Black Sea city, but had been living in Kyiv. Her husband drove her to Romanian borders, but she then returned to join the Ukrainian armed forces.
She said that it was a long and scary journey. Then she heard missiles crashing around her. “You don’t understand, ‘Is it ours?’
She said, “Maybe it is okay that we don’t now have children,” “But, we have our dog. It is our child.”
Victoria Baibara, a mother of a 6-year-old boy, left Kyiv on Tuesday after witnessing the escalating bombings in the capital. She arrived in Romania Wednesday, and will be traveling to Istanbul with friends, she stated.
The 29-year old said, “It’s so difficult, it’s tough for a child. We can’t explain why we should leave home, why these bombs are sounding,” He is also very afraid. I’m also afraid. It was so cold that it was difficult to stay with a child while they were playing in the snow.
Marya Unhuryan (from Chernivsti, western Ukraine) traveled by car to Siret along with her daughter, 9 years old, and other relatives all women.
“I feel a lot pain. It’s just pain. She said that there was a lot of pain in my country and for my people. She is 9 years old, and doesn’t understand the situation. She wants to eat pizza in Italy, and Disney in France.