Yesterday you headed for the Polish border in a hurry. What did you find there?
‘I am now on the Polish side of the border with Ukraine, in the town of Przemyśl. Yesterday I was at Medyca, right on the Ukrainian border. That is one of the places where Ukrainian refugees can cross the border. There I saw scenes that reminded me of Syria and Iraq: families with children who had grabbed a few bags and had left in a hurry.
‘Yesterday afternoon the fathers were still with them, but now only women and children cross the border. Ukrainian President Zelensky has ordered men between the ages of 18 and 60 to stay and fight in the military. Last night I was in a dormitory with two boys from Ukraine, in the draft age category. They got out just in time.’
How are the Ukrainians received there?
‘Nothing had been arranged yesterday. The small border office is not designed for a stream of refugees of this size: there were a huge number of Ukrainians waiting. Some said they had been there for five hours, others had been waiting for over eleven hours. There were old minibuses waiting. Refugees got in, not knowing where the van would take them. As long as it drove them away from the border, they were fine with it.
‘First, to the frustration of those waiting, corona tests were taken, but at a certain point that was no longer possible. There are still trains to Poland from Ukraine, but all tickets are sold out. Poland has announced that support centers will be set up, just like in Moldova and Romania.’
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine came as a surprise to many. How are the Russians reacting to the war?
‘It has amazed me and all the people I speak to. They cannot believe that Putin actually did it. It’s not right in their heads. Putin’s ideology is based on the idea that Russia has defeated Nazi Germany. A colleague received a message from Moscow: you suddenly wake up in Germany in 1941. Russian friends tell me that they are ashamed of their country, that they think it is terrible. It is Putin who started the war, not the Russians.
Russian opposition leader Navalny compared the operation in Ukraine from his penal colony to a Soviet operation in the 1980s that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe after Russia. Even for the Russian military it is a challenge to take that. If Putin succeeds, the question is: how is he going to keep the country? Ukrainians don’t want to live in Russia at all, they hate Putin.
“Yesterday tens of thousands of Russian protesters took to the streets. There was also danger in those demonstrations. Putin has two armies: one to fight against foreign countries and one to keep his own people in line.’
This afternoon you travel to Ukraine, what is your plan?
‘I plan to take a train to Lviv, in western Ukraine. People I know there say they hear the air raid sirens, but there is no fighting yet. I know that many residents have fled: traffic has been jammed by Ukrainians trying to leave the city. I expect that some of the residents would like to stay. I hope to talk to them.’
You sound excited. What is it like for you to report on war in a country you know well?
“It’s just starting to sink in for me. Yesterday I was running all day to get to the border and talk to people. Only now do I understand that it really is war. They are two countries that I know well: I have lived in Russia for six years and have been to Ukraine a lot. I know people who have taken to the streets in Moscow. I know people who are now in places in Ukraine where there is now bombing.
‘A few weeks ago I was still in Kharkov, a city in the northeast of Ukraine. Then I spoke to boys who had fled separatist territory because they were afraid that they would be called up to fight in the separatist army. They already said: ‘We are fleeing the war, but the war is coming after us.’ That indeed turns out to be the case.
‘Last week I was drinking coffee with a friend in Obolon, a residential area in the north of Kiev. Then I was in the Netherlands for a few days. Now that neighborhood is being attacked from the air: I saw videos of Russian warplanes flying over that neighborhood. My friend is still there. All those other Ukrainians are still there. That realization is only now sinking in.’