If the war in Ukraine continues in the coming months, and the estimates of seven million refugees materialize, there is no doubt that Europe will look different this summer.
The influx of refugees through the crossings will flood the countries in the center of the continent, and most of them will also reach the west.
Most refugees entering Poland see it as just a stop on the way to Germany, or to other countries in Western Europe.
In the world wars that Europe knew in the previous century the women remained to support the home front, and the men went out to fight at the front.
Now the situation in Ukraine is completely different.
The men were recruited, as always, to defend the homeland, but many children and women make their way to the west of the continent, including through Romania, Moldova and especially Poland, in order to escape the inferno in Ukraine.
House for an unknown time
The refugees who come to Poland are different from the stereotypes we are used to.
They come mostly from affluent families, who at another time were engaged in planning a summer vacation, which is approaching in huge strides.
When those mothers and their children arrive at the refugee centers after standing in line at the border crossings for hours, they look shocked by what they encounter.
Huge supermarket shops were converted into refugee centers with thousands of beds, and sports halls instantly became the home of those families for an unknown time.
"First-person testimony from a night of bombings in Kiev" // Photo: Paul, from Kiev
In those centers, despite the impossible conditions, which include thousands of field beds and tingling woolen blankets, no one is heard from any of those refugees whose worlds have been shouted at or complained about.
On the contrary, they just thank all those volunteers and workers, who try to help in any way possible.
At this stage, there is no fear of a shortage of food and equipment for those who managed to cross the border.
"It was hard to leave"
"I came here last night, with my three children," Paulina, who came from the Levib area, told us.
"When I saw the place at first I was scared, I did not know what to do. I can only thank all the good people I met here, who just want and try to help, and hope I can find another place for me and my children for the near future, because I do not think this war is about to end."
A building in Ukraine damaged by a missile during the war, Photo: AFP
Katya, 28, arrived with her elderly parents at the refugee center.
In Ukraine she worked as an electrical engineer, and at the beginning of the war she packed a small suitcase for herself and her parents, who are in their 60s, and fled to Poland as long as she could.
"It was difficult to convince my parents to join me. They said that the house was not leaving, and that it should be fought," Katya said, adding: "Dad came here exhausted."
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