From Ukraine to Bailieborough

The clock on the Russian invasion of Ukraine turned to 100 days last Friday. As this milestone passed, 10 adults gathered in an upstairs room in the Bailie Hotel in Bailieborough.

It’s another day in the life of those who fled a country ravaged by war. Months ago the group members left behind the details that knit together to define normalcy: family, friends, work. All the trappings of existence that make up day-to-day life.

Alyona Radova acts as translator for the group. Alyona is a native of Odessa. Lying on the south western coast of Ukraine, Odessa has tremendous cultural and historic significance.

The city’s famed beach on the Black Sea is now heavily mined: A factor in the shunting of the majority of the population out of what 12 months ago was the seventh most populous city in Europe.

The flight of Odessa’s population is mirrored across the country. In the Bailieborough hotel room are Antonina Romanchyk, Olga Chaikina, Olena Mukhina all from the nation’s capitol of Kyiv. Oleksandr Korniev, Halyna Chyhyryiska and Gasanova Subada hail from Dnepro. Andriy Zakharov and Nadezhda Zakharov are from Nikolaev.

Their geographic spread in their native land is as diverse as the group themselves. Different routes brought them to Cavan, but one catalyst. “We have two parts. The first part arrived in the middle of April, the second in the beginning of May,” Alyona says of the timeline of her companions’ movements.

When each left behind their life, they did not envision a hotel room in Bailieborough two months later: “Honestly, a month or two,” Alona says of her expectations of when she could return home. The group were of the same mind, “Everyone says the same, one month - not more.”

As the military to-and-fro plays out on the evening news downstairs, the group speak of the figurehead of Ukrainian resistance: “Andreas says our president inspired us. He says we will get victory soon. So, probably not that long. They think perhaps a year. Me, personally, I am hoping no more than half a year, but I really understand that it can’t be that fast.”

Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s popularity with his people is strongly felt in the room. “We really support him,” Alyona states.

She looks to the group and puts the subject to them. The emotional impact of the question is profound. Tears are brushed from eyes of some as they speak of their president.

“He is very popular. We really think we will win the war with his help. He is the opposite side to the president we had earlier,” she says of Petro Poroshenko the pro-Russian leader that Zelenskyy succeeded.

Alyona conveys the group’s reaction to the welcome they received. “Everyone tells the same thing. The people are very kind. Not only kind and polite, but kind with all their heart. They assist in so many ways. The only one thing that is a problem is the weather,” Alyona says humorously, but the climate is taking its toll. “Many of those who are here are elderly. Their health has deteriorated since they left our country. But everyone is happy here.”

Recent data from the CSO suggests that up to last week 34,330 PPS numbers were allocated to displaced Ukrainians in Ireland.

Many are housed in accommodation similar to that the Bailieborough group experience. Living in a hotel imposes restrictions, but the refugees speak of the benefits: “The hotel is good. You have the ability to socialise with people in the same situation as you.

“You have a good room, you have good food. All the arrangements for doctors are made by the hotel. They call, they arrange, they assist with transfer and everything. I think this is better than staying somewhere separate or isolated in a rural area, or even in a city,” she explains.

“We are really happy with the accommodation we have. We know there are others in stadiums or camps, here it is very good. The town is also very good,” she tells.

It’s been quite a trek for the party. Alyona travelled by bus to Bucharest, from there it was a Ryanair flight to Dublin: “We were first accommodated in City West. We became acquainted with other people who also left Ukraine at the same time and we have kept in contact with them.”

Rural transport

One difficulty experienced by the group is a familiar gripe for rural Irish people: “The problem for us is traffic. There is no bus, no cars. You cannot hire like we did in Ukraine, where you have lots of possibilities to get somewhere. Only taxi here, which is quite expensive.”

Another inconvenience is the separation from kin. The group have family spread out across the country, with Cork, Sligo and Carlow mentioned. Technology helps: “Because of internet we have the ability to keep in touch with our families. We use Viber and Telegram, it helps us talk very often, morning, daytime, evening, night.”

Communicating with loved ones in Ukraine keeps them abreast of what is happening in their own country: “Nikolaev is very affected. My town as well. Kyiv is quite stable. Dnepro is under attack. So of course we are checking. We get updates about what they are going through. They don’t have fuel or gas, there is either no possibility to buy such things or the price is huge.”

Though group members have not been residents in the fighting hotspot of the Donbas region in southeastern Ukraine, they still have close connections: “Halyna was born in Donbas, Olga was also born there, but has been living in Kyiv a long time. They have lots of relatives, and friends living there.”

Family fighting

They also have family joining the military effort: “Oleksander’s son, Sonja’s brother, my husband’s family have a brother who is a doctor. Halyna’s nephew is also fighting,” Alyona outlines.

The occupations of the Ukrainian refugees are a random sample of pre-war life. An ex-colonel in the military, a HR manager, an accountant, a metallurgist, a secretary with FC Dynamo Kyiv, a housewife, a photographer and a lawyer. All with their own story of a displaced life.

Those stories make up the stream of details that nudge man’s capacity for inhumanity into safe western lives. Shocking events like the 1,000 bodies recovered in Bucha, including 31 children. The photographic and video footage of that massacre emerging after the Russian forces withdrew from the city.

That atrocity left an imprint in the hotel room in Bailieborough: “In her [Olena’s] village they were evacuating civilians every single hour for two weeks,” Alona translates. “It was during this situation. The evacuees passed through her village at that time.”

For the last eight years tensions have simmered between Russia and Ukraine over the Donbas region. Even with this backdrop, Alyona says the prospect of war was far from their mind: “No, no one had this idea,” she says, Olga adds, “We thought it would be just that part, there in the Donbas.”

In December things changed: “When the Embassy staff started to leave Kyiv we thought something was going to happen, but not this situation. No one could presume that it was going to be like this,” Alyona stated.

As the war rumbles on it has forced a normality that would seem impossible half a year ago. Some who fled now intermittently return home: “Some from Poland, Italy, some from Spain. We just miss our families, that is the reason. We don’t want to be like this. We can’t see our fathers, husbands, nephews. That is why they go back. My mom is staying at home, I am all the time chatting with her. She always says ‘I used to it’. Everyone misses their family. People get used to war, unfortunately.”

Gratitude

The Ukrainian group were at pains to express their gratitude for the support they have received: “Thanks to all the people of Ireland. We really appreciate the assistance and help for everything. We never thought it would be like this, or that we would be helped by people so far away from us.”