Those who stay

Some Ukrainian women are making the difficult decision of staying in their war ridden country even when they can leave. Julia is one of them. She fled the Luhansk region and by the time she reached the border with Slovakia with her family, her husband, a disabled man, was forbidden from escaping. He lost an eye in an accident years ago but he must stay and serve the military. Julia, her two daughters and mother, then decided to stay in a shelter in West Ukraine considered a safe zone, for now.

Those who return

Back in March I met Marina briefly. She asked us for a ride at the Ukraine-Slovakia border since border officials stopped allowing people to cross back to Ukraine on foot. In this interview she tells me that after a month since she fled Kharkiv, she’s now forced to go back to her country to seek medical care for her mother who does not have European health insurance.