Inside a refugee centre, Ukrainians reflect on their losses and prepare to move on

In a warehouse 15 kilometres inside Poland’s border with Ukraine, sisters Tanya and Oksana lay under blankets on army cots, exhausted after the journey from Kyiv.

After enduring days of Russian shelling, they had boarded a train to Lviv, then bussed to the Medyka border and walked across. Tanya’s daughter, Elizabeth, came with them.

Polish authorities brought them to Korczowa, where a sprawling industrial site has been converted into a reception centre for refugees displaced by the Russian invasion.

Outside the building, police kept watch as buses arrived to deliver refugees. Food trucks handed out sandwiches and soup. Diapers and baby food were left on tables for families.

“If you want to go to Bonn, come to the reception desk,” said an announcement broadcast over a loudspeaker positioned at the centre’s main entrance. “Five people to Bonn.”

With the flow of refugees caused by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attempt to seize his neighbouring nation now surpassing one million, the European Union agreed to open its doors to Ukrainians.

The EU said those fleeing “Putin’s bombs” would be eligible for temporary residence for up to three years, and have the ability to work and receive housing, medical and social welfare benefits.

Canada also announced a program for refugees from Ukraine, which was to come into effect in the coming weeks.

More than half the refugees have crossed into Poland, with almost 100,000 arriving on Wednesday alone through eight border posts, travelling by car, bus, train and on foot.

Fifteen minutes from the busiest crossing, Medyka, volunteers from Poland and other European countries have converged at the Korczowa refugee centre to offer support and rides.

As buses from the border pulled up nearby, David Martello sat at the piano he trailered from his home in Germany, greeting the new arrivals with his version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.

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“I just wanted to spread some peace and love,” he said.

Karolina Kicinska stood behind a stall handing out bread. She said she came from her village in Poland because there was too much evil in the world and she wanted to help.

A therapist who works with kids, she said she was moved by the children, who suffer the most in wars, so she travelled in an RV, which would be offered up to refugees in need of a temporary home.

Inside, refugees lined up for bowls of stew, and occupied row after row of olive green folding cots, each outfitted with a blanket, while security teams patrolled the halls.

Oksana, who was working at an organization that provides services to Kyiv’s Jewish community when the war started, said she and her sister and niece left Kyiv on the first day of the Russian invasion.

They returned to their family home in Khrystynivka, in central Ukraine. After hiding from the shelling in a basement, they boarded a train west on Wednesday and crossed the border Thursday.

From the refugee centre, they planned to travel to Frankfurt, where friends were taking them in. They said the Russian shelling was the most frightening experience of their lives.

Her government-issue blanket pulled up to her chin, Tanya, a teacher, said it was hard to believe that just two weeks ago, she was living a happy life. She hoped the war ended soon.

She said she was proud of the Ukrainian forces and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had international support.

“Russian started war not just with Ukraine but with the whole world,” she said.

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