Thank you!! Sirens are turned on in my city right now. We are very scared, because we understand this is not a training alarm. Our government says to take essentials, clothes, food, documents and go to the shelter. I have relatives in a small town 50 km from Poland, so I hope to go there somehow. Here in Ukraine men aged 18-60 have been officially banned from crossing the border. Women and children are still allowed.
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Stay safe i hope this war ends quickly!!! 
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I am scared with you and with today’s reaction from China, I fear the only one who are unwilling to sacrifice people’s life is the West.
This is going backwards when you will look at every new product, and for now I won’t buy products from them. Even C-drama will no longer be on my screen, I just finished one, and it will be the last for a long time.
I wish you and your fellow countrymen to pull through these hard times and all I hope for is peace, but there are always people who do not know how to cherish people’s life and livelihood.
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I’m so sorry you and your fam, and many others there, have to go through this silly war.
Please stay safe. Our thoughts are with you all in Ukraine.
Hope this will pass very soon.
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@irene06 What a terrible situation you are in. I feel so sorry for the people there is that one guy’s greed for more land. And innocent people have to suffer. I would try to flee while you still can. I see so many people wanting to leave on tv but cannot leave because there are huge traffic jams and the Russians block people as well I heard. But fleeing is not easy because when can you return? Will your house be ok? etc etc. Stay strong.
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@xaratkd_667 @lutra @jadecloud88 @dudie
Thank you for your support! I really appreciate it. I had to leave my house, I was able to get to a safer place, but it’s very cold here. People are waiting in line at the border for at least 15 hours. But I don’t know anyone abroad, so I don’t know what to do, even if I manage to cross the border. I hope everything will end quickly.
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If you make it to any other country, let us know, maybe there is a dear Viki friend around. We may not be able to provide shelter, but helping you to get the right information should be the minimum.
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As a person from Poland, I can say that Poland will accept people and pets (all regulations related to their transport have been abolished) from Ukraine. Special places are created where people from Ukraine, who do not know anyone can stay after crossing the border
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@angelight313_168
I am 26 years old. I don’t want a war, I am against this war. You are right, there is only one life. I don’t want to live my life that way. I have with me only documents, including for going abroad, a diploma (I have Master degree in law), some savings and only two sets of clothes. Now I am with my mother, brother and his girlfriend and two our cats. I just contacted my friend, she has been at the border for almost 24 hours, the queues moves very slowly. We have a curfew from 10 pm till 6 am.
But I am proud of my country, our army, which gives a decent rebuff to the enemy. Our government has opened an account to help the Ukrainian army, we have collected 300 million UAH (approximately 10 million USD) in the first day.
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@oliweiqq
Thanks for the information! Now I’m really thinking about going abroad. But the frightening thing is that we don’t know how long it will last. The war in the eastern part of Ukraine and the occupation of Crimea began in 2014. It has been 8 years. We will have to find a job, but we hardly speak Polish. We understand that the Polish government will not be able to keep us for long, there will definitely be many of us, so we are worried about what will happen next, how we will live. But you are all right, we must flee while the borders are open.
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I don’t know, if it will be helpful, but it’s always some sort of information:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/683793819641997
There are people, who can help with transport, legal issues, housing etc in Poland and also some contact informations of people from official goverment centers.
It’s a really difficult situation and I can’t even imagine, what you feel right now…
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@zyxw
Thank you very much for the link! In Ukraine there is a saying “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” Thank you for supporting us and not leaving us in trouble!
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@irene06
It is said that 35.000 refugees made it to Poland. Poland said it could take 50.000 people each day. I read about the long wait at the border, but don’t think this will change for now. I guess it requires a lot of patience and stamina.
So take care of you and your family to stay healthy, everything else comes second. Germany makes preparing too to take refugees in, and so do many other countries it seems.
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Maybe Poland changed the immigration rules for Ukrainians? I know The Netherlands did. You now can get in without a visa and you can stay at least 90 days or 180 days without problems when needed. You don’t get a special refugee status other refugees get at this point. And they are preparing shelters. No idea if you are allowed to work during those days. In The Netherlands many people can speak English, specially the younger generation. So that won’t really be an issue if your English speech is decent.
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@lutra
I have subscribed to several chats in Telegram about the situation at the borders, so I know information about the queues. But I didn’t know that so many people were able to flee. We are told that we need to bring enough food, because the queues at the border are huge. Our shops and supermarkets are almost empty. There is no gasoline at gas stations at all.
@dudie The immigration rules have really changed. Previously, a biometric passport, insurance, vaccine certificate and negative PCR test were required to cross the border (I have all of this exept negative PCR test). Now even an internal Ukrainian passport, which is only in Ukrainian, is enough. Ukraine has a visa-free agreement, we do not need a visa to EU countries if we stay no more than 90 days in the last 180 days. I was in the Netherlands in October 2021, I was in Amsterdam, Delft, Rotterdam, The Hague and other cities. I traveled from Ukraine through Hungary, Austria and Germany to the Netherlands. Everyone I spoke to in the Netherlands knew English, including shopkeepers, shop assistants in markets.
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@irene06
I hope we can stay in contact. However, think about your “lifeline - your cell phone”, try to lessen its use of energy. When you are in the cold, hold it as warm and dry as possible. Later when you are at the border you might not have the chance to charge it right away.
Good luck, and it’s good that you could travel in these countries before. My thoughts are with you all.
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@irene06 All good suggestions from @lutra. I’ll add that if you have any power bricks, now is the time to charge them and take them with you. They will help you get through any periods when you don’t have access to charging. Also, having energy (food) bars with you may help sustain you if there are long waits in the queue. I wish you the very best under the circumstances. Stay safe. May the courageous fighters of your nation prevail in securing your freedom and independence.
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@lutra @dasfl49
Thanks! I still have access to electricity, so I can charge my phone. I also have a 20,000 mAh powerbank. Our government assures that the Internet and mobile communications will not be disconnected. Our Ukrainian mobile providers have charged us free minutes for calls and free internet. So I stay in touch. I also heard that foreign mobile providers have canceled payments for calls to Ukraine. We have list of this countries: Canada, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Slovakia, Northern Macedonia, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Czech Republic, Poland, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. I saw posts of people from Poland and Romania helping our people at the border, giving food, helping with housing, clothes and other necessary things. We really appreciate your help!
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I’ve created a new thread for Ukrainian related discussion so we don’t have to use this unrelated thread.
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