The situation at the border crossings between Ukraine and Poland is becoming too dramatic every hour. Following the announcement by the Polish Prime Minister that his country is opening its gates wide to refugees from Ukraine and releasing them from the obligation to present identity documents and health documents proving that they are not Corona carriers, the movement of refugees towards Polish border crossings has increased significantly.
These crossings have already created over the weekend a very difficult situation of queues of refugees, stretching for miles, due to the decision of the Ukrainian authorities to prevent men aged 60-18 from leaving the country territory, and oblige them to participate in defending it from Russian attacks.
Ukrainian refugees, Photo: IPI
On the Ukrainian side of the border, a selection is actually made between men and women and children, who are separated into different queues.
The men undergo a rigorous examination, which determines whether they are allowed to cross the border.
"A humanitarian catastrophe is beginning to form in the crossings," warns Israel's ambassador to Ukraine, Michael Brodecki, who moved with the embassy staff from the city of Leviv to Poland, and from there he tries with his staff to facilitate the crossing of Israelis without much success.
"Israelis who were delayed in leaving Ukraine until the outbreak of hostilities are also stuck in the mass refugee columns, and there is no possibility of 'pulling' them out without causing a rage of anger from the rest of those waiting," Brodecki explains.
"The atmosphere there is terrible. People who have been on the road for two or three days find themselves in a nerve-wracking wait for many hours in the cold. There is despair and rage there. .
Ukrainian refugees after crossing the border into Poland, Photo: GettyImages
"The only possible contribution of the Foreign Ministry staff is in issuing travel documents on the spot," the ambassador emphasizes. "There are many Israelis whose passports expired or were forgotten at home while fleeing. "On the Polish side. There will be a lot of Israelis who come in here and do not know what to do. We will help them get organized here."
"There are direct flights from Krakow and Warsaw, but their number is limited. These flights are also full, and rescue flights have to be taken care of. There are also people who have no money. Many of them are full of claims against Israel. They do not like to be asked why they did not leave before. , But I keep to myself what I have to say. Just a week ago they claimed we were creating a panic, and now there is no way to get people out of the big cities. But people are in a difficult situation and need to be taken care of, and the number of flights increased. "The only country that is on the border, even if we are limited in what can be done."
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