Clare Toeniskoetter
Can I pay you a card or cash? Either?
Taxi Driver
Cash —
Clare Toeniskoetter
Cash is better? OK.
Speaker
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Taxi Driver
A moment, moment.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Oh, I’m coming out.
Taxi Driver
Moment. Moment. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Clare Toeniskoetter
Thank you very much.
[Crowd Yelling Indistinctly]
Clare Toeniskoetter
I’ve just arrived at the border, and as soon as my taxi pulled up, people were trying to hire the taxi. And a family got in — a grandma, a mom and her two kids. One was maybe eight or nine, and then a very little baby that she was carrying in her arms.
They loaded a stroller into the trunk and drove off. And I’m just off the main road, and there’s just a huge crowd. So many women and children.
[Baby Screaming]
Clare Toeniskoetter
From The New York Times, this is The Daily. I’m Clare Toeniskoetter. When I first arrived at the Polish border, it was just days after Russia had begun its full-scale assault on Ukraine.
There’s just constantly people streaming in with roller bags, with backpacks, with cats, with dogs, with giant stuffed animals. At that point, there were about 100,000 Ukrainians crossing into Poland each day.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Where are you going?
Speaker
Polish friends.
Clare Toeniskoetter
You have Polish friends?
Speaker
Polish friends.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And most of the people I spoke to had plans and knew where they were headed —
Clare Toeniskoetter
Why do you go to Germany?
Speaker
I have a friend there.
Clare Toeniskoetter
— to stay with friends or family —
Speaker
I have an elder daughter. She lives in Finland. And a friend of her will just arrive and will pick us to travel to Finland together with the dogs.
Clare Toeniskoetter
— for what they thought would be just a few days or weeks, until the situation resolved.
Speaker
We hope it’s going to be over soon.
Clare Toeniskoetter
But over the course of just a couple of days, as the war progressed, I watched the scene transform into the largest wave of refugees in Europe since World War II. 10 million Ukrainians, about 1/4 of the country’s population, have now been displaced, and almost 4 million have fled the country.
Poland had opened its borders, and like other countries in the E.U., had announced that Ukrainians could live and work there for up to three years. But at that point, they hadn’t organized formal assistance. Instead, I found an impromptu volunteer network —
Speaker 1
Yes, so we are offering free SIM cards for people from Ukraine.
Speaker 2
We have spaghetti. We have sweets. We have everything. [CHUCKLES]
Clare Toeniskoetter
— of people from all across Europe coming to the border.
Speaker 3
We brought toys and sweets, you know, something good for the kids.
Clare Toeniskoetter
— offering food —
Clare Toeniskoetter
Tell me what your sign says.
Speaker
Free room in Germany, one person.
Clare Toeniskoetter
— supplies —
Speaker
Free transport and free house, to Sweden.
Clare Toeniskoetter
— transportation —
Speaker
Let’s go to Luxembourg.
Clare Toeniskoetter
— and housing.
Clare Toeniskoetter
She doesn’t know where she’s going at all in Europe?
Speaker 1
No.
Speaker 2
No. No.
Clare Toeniskoetter
OK. Good luck.
Clare Toeniskoetter
To Ukrainians who now had no idea how long the war would last, or what they would do next.
Over the next three weeks, I followed one of these women as she began to face those questions.
It’s Monday, March 28.
Clare Toeniskoetter
OK, I think I’m walking up.
Clare Toeniskoetter
After leaving the border, I traveled three hours west to Krakow, Poland’s second-biggest city. And I headed to an apartment not far from the center of town —
[Beep]
Sven
Hello.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Hi.
Sven
Hello, Clare.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Hi, Sven.
Sven
Come up to the fifth floor, yeah?
Clare Toeniskoetter
Fifth floor, great.
Sven
OK.
Clare Toeniskoetter
— where Sven Hoffmann, a 43-year-old German man, lives with his fiancee.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Hi.
Gosia
I’m Gosia. Nice to meet you.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Clare. Nice to meet you. Gosia?
Gosia
Gosia.
Clare Toeniskoetter
A Polish woman, named Gosia. I had first met Sven at the border. And he and Gosia had recently taken in a Ukrainian refugee and her 11-year-old son.
Iryna Baramidze
This is my son, Yuri.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
Clare Toeniskoetter
Iryna and Yuri Baramidze, who were among the early wave of refugees to arrive in Poland. They both have round faces and big smiles.
We all gather around the kitchen table, and Iryna starts telling me the story of what her life was like just a few weeks ago.
Iryna Baramidze
23, February, we make homework. We have some plan. 26, February, I must go to ballet with my son.
Clare Toeniskoetter
The ballet?
Iryna Baramidze
Yes, it was normal life.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Yeah.
Iryna Baramidze
Because we’re normal people.
Clare Toeniskoetter
She said that before the war started, her life was predictable.
Iryna Baramidze
Well, my life — I live in Kyiv all my life.
Clare Toeniskoetter
She’s from a middle-class neighborhood in Kyiv.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Tell me about your husband.
Iryna Baramidze
So my husband’s from Georgia.
Clare Toeniskoetter
She’d been with her husband, Alexi, for 12 years.
Clare Toeniskoetter
How did you meet?
Iryna Baramidze
We met in internet. He sent me a message.
Clare Toeniskoetter
They got married and had Yuri.
Clare Toeniskoetter
What kind of work do you do?
Iryna Baramidze
I work in a transport company.
Clare Toeniskoetter
They both worked at a big company that dispatches tow trucks, taxis and cargo trucks. Iryna was a supervisor in their call center —
Iryna Baramidze
He’s a lock master.
Clare Toeniskoetter
— and her husband was an automotive locksmith. They bought an apartment, and Iryna’s mom moved in.
Iryna Baramidze
Yuri very want — he said, mama, buy me, please, a dog.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And until recently, one of their most pressing decisions was whether to adopt a dog for Yuri.
Iryna Baramidze
OK. We find — I find a shelter.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Yuri was sure he was ready. So Iryna started taking him to a shelter to see the responsibility of walking a dog.
Iryna Baramidze
We come morning, in evening, some days like five days. And after this, he would say to me, OK, I don’t want dog.
Yuri Baramidze
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Clare Toeniskoetter
Turns out he wasn’t so sure.
Yuri Baramidze
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Clare Toeniskoetter
You like to sleep in.
Iryna Baramidze
Yes.
Clare Toeniskoetter
He’d rather sleep and watch YouTube videos about trains, Chernobyl and World War II — his three favorite things.
Iryna Baramidze
We were together — relax, speak together, eat together.
And after this— we’re not together.
Clare Toeniskoetter
On February 24, the whole family woke up to the sounds of bombs in Kyiv. They spent two nights sleeping at Yuri’s school in the basement.
Iryna Baramidze
Every night, they start to bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And then, the next two nights, sleeping in the bathroom and the hallway of their apartment. And on the fifth morning —
Iryna Baramidze
I wake up, and I think I can’t move, really.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Right.
Iryna Baramidze
I can’t move.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Iryna decided she couldn’t stay. She tried to convince the rest of her family to join her.
Iryna Baramidze
He says, oh, we’re OK. Not nervous.
Clare Toeniskoetter
But her husband was convinced the war would only last a few more days.
Yuri Baramidze
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Clare Toeniskoetter
Even Yuri wasn’t scared. He trusted that the army would protect his family. But the feeling in Iryna’s gut wouldn’t go away.
Iryna Baramidze
I call and ask, do you have some driver who can take me and my son and go to the train station?
Clare Toeniskoetter
She called a taxi to take her and Yuri to the train station.
Iryna Baramidze
She told me, I have one.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And they told her they had just one available in 20 minutes.
Iryna Baramidze
My son’s asleep. He wakes up. I take some clothes for my son, documents, money, and go.
Clare Toeniskoetter
She couldn’t even tell her mother, who was out at the pharmacy. But she said goodbye to her husband.
Clare Toeniskoetter
What did you say to him?
Iryna Baramidze
Of course I tell him I love him, and we will meet. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Speaker
It’s OK.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And she headed to the train station.
Iryna Baramidze
And after this, I go to Lublin.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Lublin? OK.
Iryna Baramidze
Lublin city in Poland.
Clare Toeniskoetter
OK.
Iryna Baramidze
Yes.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Were you trying to go to Poland?
Iryna Baramidze
For me, it was — it’s OK, now Poland another country —
Clare Toeniskoetter
West?
Iryna Baramidze
Yes, yes. Only, I must go to from Kyiv.
Clare Toeniskoetter
She says it was a 10-hour train ride from Kyiv to Kovel, a Ukrainian city near the border. And as they’re on their way, she’s aware that she doesn’t know anyone in the E.U. She’s only traveled there once before, to Latvia.
Iryna Baramidze
I understand I’m alone. I don’t have some people near me. But I’m strong. It will be OK, and I believe it will be OK. I’m optimist.
Clare Toeniskoetter
But on the train, she learned that Yuri’s fifth-grade teacher had recently fled to Poland. It was her best option.
Iryna Baramidze
So I call Yuri’s teacher, and she says to me that she’s now in Poland, in Krakow. And I say, oh, I now go to Poland, too. Maybe you can help me.
Clare Toeniskoetter
The teacher started making calls.
Iryna Baramidze
Yes.
Clare Toeniskoetter
So you call the teacher. The teacher calls a friend.
Iryna Baramidze
Mm-hmm.
Clare Toeniskoetter
The friend is —
Clare Toeniskoetter
And eventually, word got to go to Gosia’s aunt, who called Gosia and Sven. And they agreed to let Iryna and Yuri stay with them for a few days, maybe even a few weeks.
Iryna Baramidze
I’m very nervous who this family, who takes me and Yuri.
Clare Toeniskoetter
But they were still complete strangers, and Iryna wondered, what was she bringing in her son into?
Iryna Baramidze
I don’t understand. The first message, it was in English.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And on the final leg of the journey, she got a series of text messages from an unknown sender, and the last one was in Russian.
Iryna Baramidze
I don’t understand who sent me Russian message, who knows that I come to Poland.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Right. And you’re scared because it’s Russian?
Iryna Baramidze
Yes, yes. Why scared? Because maybe some people know my number, and these people know the route. Maybe they want to take my money. But you understand, I’m in the country, and I don’t know anyway.
Clare Toeniskoetter
It turns out the text was from Gosia, who was just trying to find the best language to communicate with Iryna. And when Iryna arrived at the train station in Krakow —
Iryna Baramidze
I see that man and woman go like this.
Clare Toeniskoetter
She saw Gosia and Sven waving.
Iryna Baramidze
So I see it’s normal people, good people, smile people. Yes.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And she says, she relaxed a little.
She spent her first few days with Sven and Gosia trying to sort out the logistics of her new life.
Iryna Baramidze
It’s first day — we go to administration, ask about me, what I must do, how long I can stay in Poland. If I be like immigration, yes.
Clare Toeniskoetter
First, on Thursday, she went to the Polish department for foreigners. She learned that unlike refugees in the past, who had to declare their refugee status immediately after arriving in Poland, she had time. At this point, she had 15 days, and Poland later changed this to 90 days.
Or, she could leave Poland and register to stay in another country — something else that previous refugees didn’t get the chance to do. Every country in the E.U. was now allowing Ukrainian refugees to apply for asylum. So next, she started exploring where she wanted to go.
Iryna Baramidze
Next day, we see when we go to embassy, U.S.A., maybe I can go to my friend.
Clare Toeniskoetter
One of her closest friends from childhood lives in Nevada, but she learned that unlike Europe, the U.S. hadn’t changed its policies towards Ukrainian refugees caught in the war. They’ve since updated that policy and announced that they’ll allow up to 100,000 Ukrainians in.
Iryna Baramidze
— and to Sven call an embassy Germany, because maybe we go in Germany.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Sven encouraged Iryna to look into Germany, his home country, where he thinks she could get a better job and have a better standard of living. She was considering it.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And do you think you’ll work here?
Iryna Baramidze
Yes, yes, I work, of course. I don’t have something like books, where all time I will have money. I don’t have this —
Clare Toeniskoetter
Her main criteria in making her decision, she says, was a job, health insurance for her son and housing she could afford.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Is your husband still working right now?
Iryna Baramidze
No. Company not working now.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Yeah. So he needs you to work here to help provide for him there.
Iryna Baramidze
Yes, yes. Now, price in the Ukraine high. Before war, one packet milk, price was like $1. Now, it’s like $2.
Clare Toeniskoetter
So there’s extra pressure for you to get a job quickly.
Iryna Baramidze
Yes. Anyway, I’m not afraid to work. I can do all. I can work in hotel, some restaurant. I don’t know. Any way, I can do all.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Iryna tells me she only had about a month’s worth of money saved up. So the clock was ticking. But in order to find a job, she needed to register somewhere in the E.U. And to register, she needed to pick a place to live.
Iryna Baramidze
I don’t know. I don’t know. How I know?
Clare Toeniskoetter
Yeah.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Part of what’s complicated, part of what’s making it hard for Iryna to make a decision, is that she still believes that ultimately, even if it’s turning out to be a bit longer than she originally hoped, she’s just waiting to go back to the country she knows she wants to live in.
Iryna Baramidze
I hope —
Clare Toeniskoetter
Yeah.
Iryna Baramidze
— maybe it’s some months, maybe some years. I don’t understand now nothing. I don’t understand.
When our war is finished, I will go to home. If I can, of course.
Sven
All right. So we’re going here, straight left, and then we are passing your hotel.
Clare Toeniskoetter
OK.
Sven
And then, we’re going to the —
Clare Toeniskoetter
The bank.
Sven
To the bank.
Clare Toeniskoetter
The next morning, Monday, I go with Iryna, Yuri and Sven to the bank, B.N.P. — a bank that Iryna uses in Ukraine.
Iryna Baramidze
Stay money at home.
Sven
But you want to take it. But we don’t know if it’s possible now. So first, we have to ask, and then it’s not far.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Iryna had been traveling with some emergency cash in hryvnia, Ukraine’s currency.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Talking with the bank.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Now that she was safely in Poland, she was hoping to deposit the money back into her account.
Iryna Baramidze
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Clare Toeniskoetter
But she learns that even though this is the same bank she uses in Ukraine, they operate independently, so she can’t access her account here. And even if she opens a new account, they won’t deposit Ukrainian money.
Iryna Baramidze
My money from Ukraine, it’s nothing now. OK.
Clare Toeniskoetter
So she’ll have to exchange it.
Iryna Baramidze
OK, I’ll take my money and find someone that can kantor, exchange.
Sven
But the rate is not so good, of course.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Right.
Clare Toeniskoetter
But the exchange rate has plunged since the war started. She says that when she left, what she was carrying was worth $400. But when she tries to exchange it later in the day, she learns it’s only worth $60.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And have you already been together to this camp?
Speaker
No, no, first time.
Clare Toeniskoetter
So you haven’t been here.
Clare Toeniskoetter
The same day, we go to a refugee center in Krakow that’s been set up in a local sports hall. Sven is hoping that Yuri can meet some kids his age there and that Iryna might be able to get guidance on some of her questions from the volunteers who are helping run the camp.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And this is where we are going?
Sven
Yeah, yeah. You see it from —
Clare Toeniskoetter
We walk in, but I have to turn off my microphone until I get approval to record from the refugee camp’s coordinator. We go upstairs to talk to him, to a cafe and concession stand area overlooking a big basketball court that’s covered with about 200 fold-out beds.
Looking over all the people, Iryna starts to cry. She hugs Yuri, and turns to Sven and quietly thanks him. She says she’s grateful to be in a real home instead of a shelter.
Coordinator
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] Recording?
Clare Toeniskoetter
Yes, yes, if that’s OK.
Clare Toeniskoetter
The coordinator gives me approval to record, and we talk to some other refugees there while Yuri plays games on Iryna’s phone. And even though she doesn’t know her own plan yet, Iryna tries to help them.
Hanna
We want to come in Germany.
Clare Toeniskoetter
One woman, a pianist named Hanna, who performed in the Kharkiv Philharmonic, is thinking about taking her son to Germany. But she’s worried about going to Germany, applying for asylum, and then not finding a job and being stuck and unable to find work in another E.U. country.
Iryna Baramidze
Sven, I’m sorry. Can you maybe call Embassy Germany and ask some —
Clare Toeniskoetter
Iryna asks Sven to call the German embassy to see if those rules will apply to Ukrainians.
Sven
They don’t know yet today. On Monday, on Wednesday, there will be —
Clare Toeniskoetter
And they tell him they need a few more days to figure that out.
Sven
So the best is you have to wait till Wednesday, unfortunately, here, for maybe —
Clare Toeniskoetter
So for now, Hannah and her son were stuck. Hannah messaged me later with a video of her playing piano and said, I really hope my piano wasn’t blown up.
Clare Toeniskoetter
What is all this?
At the shelter, we also come across a makeshift job board of handwritten notes in Russian and Ukrainian taped to a wall.
Iryna Baramidze
Work, clean sports hall.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Iryna takes a look.
Iryna Baramidze
Haircutter.
Sven
Haircutter.
Clare Toeniskoetter
But she’s not ready to apply for anything yet, until she decides if she’ll stay in Poland.
Iryna Baramidze
Yes, it will be very hard for me. I very —
Clare Toeniskoetter
She tells me that she’s been talking to her husband and mother every day. And it’s clear that she’s still holding out hope —
Iryna Baramidze
Every day, I think maybe tomorrow, I will go to home. Maybe tomorrow I will go to home. But no.
Clare Toeniskoetter
— that maybe the war will end the next day.
Almost a week later, on Saturday —
Iryna Baramidze
I know something. In English it’s good morning, good morning, good morning to you. Good morning, good morning, I’m glad to see you.
Clare Toeniskoetter
I meet up with Iryna again. She started volunteering for a few hours a day, helping other refugees who are just arriving at the Krakow train station.
Clare Toeniskoetter
I think I’m OK.
Clare Toeniskoetter
I take the tram there with her for her second day. She’s only about a week or so ahead of the people arriving, but she feels she already has something she can offer.
Iryna Baramidze
Some people don’t speak Poland or English, and I can help. I know some information about Poland, and second, I can stay in the room and just sit. I must something do.
Clare Toeniskoetter
We get to the train station.
[Baby Crying]
Clare Toeniskoetter
It feels like the border a week earlier. But now, we’re three hours from the border, and there are still massive crowds.
Clare Toeniskoetter
I’m in the train station, and there’s a big poster that says, smaller cities in Poland mean greater possibilities of accommodation, lower cost of living, and better chance to find a job. Big cities in Poland are already overcrowded. Don’t be afraid to go to smaller towns. They are peaceful, have good infrastructure and are well-adapted.
Clare Toeniskoetter
At this point, on March 12, 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Poland. The mayors of Krakow and Warsaw have both announced that they are full and that they’ll need to start sending people to these smaller towns and to other E.U. countries.
Iryna Baramidze
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Clare Toeniskoetter
Here’s Iryna now in the yellow volunteer vest.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Iryna’s shift is at a rest station where people can lay down for a few hours and hopefully sleep before their next train, bus or drive.
Iryna Baramidze
I’m check some bed free or not free, how many we have free bed.
Clare Toeniskoetter
She keeps a list of about 70 beds, and cleans them whenever someone leaves.
She hands out tea and coffee.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Did they all go on the bus to Berlin?
Iryna Baramidze
I assume bus or train. I don’t know.
Clare Toeniskoetter
She helps refugees connect with volunteers who have come to the station offering help. She knows how scared she was, and she helps people understand that they are safe.
Speaker
All of them want to work or just one person?
Clare Toeniskoetter
But mostly, people just want to ask her about the big questions —
Iryna Baramidze
Can find job in Facebook. They have some group.
Clare Toeniskoetter
— questions she herself hasn’t been able to answer. Where do I go? Where do I live? How do I get a job?
Towards the end of her shift —
Clare Toeniskoetter
You’re driving to Italy?
Iryna Baramidze
Yeah. No, not me. My friend.
Clare Toeniskoetter
OK.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Iryna meets another volunteer from Italy.
Speaker
Babushka. Lina Babushka.
Iryna Baramidze
Galina?
[Interposing Voices]
Speaker
Yeah, Lina, but she told me, Lina.
Clare Toeniskoetter
She’s come to help an 81-year-old woman who’s traveling alone. The woman has been stuck at the train station for two days.
Speaker
So I take her to home.
Iryna Baramidze
OK.
Speaker
I’m trying to help you. So when you have someone that wants to go to Italy, call me, and —
Clare Toeniskoetter
At this point, the volunteer clearly thinks Iryna is just another volunteer, and she’s letting her know that she can be a resource if Iryna encounters people who need help getting to Italy.
Iryna Baramidze
OK. Maybe you can help me.
Speaker
Yeah.
Iryna Baramidze
Maybe you know some information. If I will go to Italy, and I will make registration, for —
Speaker
For you or for refugees?
Iryna Baramidze
For me and my son.
Speaker
But you —
Clare Toeniskoetter
She is a refugee.
Speaker
OK, OK. Oh, I don’t know. I’m sorry. OK. So —
Clare Toeniskoetter
And then, she realizes Iryna is talking about herself.
Speaker
And you want to go to Italy.
Iryna Baramidze
I don’t know, but —
Speaker
You don’t know.
Iryna Baramidze
I don’t know, but maybe some official information in Italy?
Speaker
Yeah, what do you have to wonder?
Iryna Baramidze
If I will do this registration, will I have medical card —
Speaker
In Italy?
Iryna Baramidze
In Italy.
Speaker
Yes, you will have everything.
Iryna Baramidze
My son can go to school?
Speaker
Yes, you can go to school. He can go to school.
Iryna Baramidze
I can find job official?
Speaker
Yes, official. We have a few —
Clare Toeniskoetter
After she asks her questions, Iryna turns to me.
Iryna Baramidze
What do you think about this woman from Italy?
Clare Toeniskoetter
Yeah. It seems like she could help you if you want to go to Italy.
Iryna Baramidze
Yes, but I’m afraid. It’s very hard. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Clare Toeniskoetter
She says that even in a place like this, where it seems like everyone is trying to help, it’s hard to know who to trust.
When we leave the train station that day —
Iryna Baramidze
Poland now has a lot of people from Ukraine. Very, very, very —
Clare Toeniskoetter
Iryna has decided she won’t stay in Poland.
Iryna Baramidze
I must go to country where not a lot of Ukrainian people —
Clare Toeniskoetter
And that she needs to go somewhere else, where there will be less competition for jobs and housing. But beyond this —
Iryna Baramidze
— France, maybe after tomorrow, it will be in Norway again. I don’t know, really. I don’t know nothing.
Clare Toeniskoetter
She still seems totally lost.
And then, on Monday, March 14, I get a text message from Iryna. Her best friend, also named Iryna, has also recently arrived in Poland from Ukraine. She followed Iryna to Krakow, and together, just like that, they’ve decided to go to Germany.
[Beeping]
Clare Toeniskoetter
Iryna? Can you hear me?
Clare Toeniskoetter
I rushed over to meet her at the crowded train station.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Iryna! Iryna!
Iryna Baramidze
I’m so sorry. Please.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Oh, it’s OK. Don’t worry.
Iryna Baramidze
I sit here. Internet not work.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Yes, yes.
Iryna Baramidze
Oh, I’m so sorry.
Clare Toeniskoetter
No, no problem!
Iryna Baramidze
I’m just afraid. Some people can me say about ticket to train to Germany.
Clare Toeniskoetter
I find her in front of the information booth for Ukrainian refugees, where she usually volunteers. Yuri is home with Sven and Gosia.
Iryna Baramidze
If I will take tickets in this class —
Clare Toeniskoetter
Trains to Germany from Poland are free for Ukrainians, but they aren’t guaranteed seats, so she’s waiting for a batch of free tickets to be released at 2:45 p.m. She’s already been there for 4 and 1/2 hours to make sure she gets them.
Clare Toeniskoetter
You have your ticket?
Iryna Baramidze
No, I must wait 15 minutes.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Ah, OK. And what time is the train?
Iryna Baramidze
23 o’clock.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Tonight.
Iryna Baramidze
Yes, yes, tonight.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Wow. OK.
Clare Toeniskoetter
I’m shocked when I learned she’s planning to leave that night.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Where do you go in Germany?
Iryna Baramidze
I don’t know.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Really?
Iryna Baramidze
Kauffmann or like this. I don’t know.
Clare Toeniskoetter
OK, but you know you have a place to sleep in Germany?
Iryna Baramidze
No. I don’t have.
Clare Toeniskoetter
You’re just going to Germany?
Iryna Baramidze
Yeah. Yes.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And that she has no idea where she’ll stay.
Speaker
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Clare Toeniskoetter
At 2:45, she goes back up to the information booth.
Iryna Baramidze
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Clare Toeniskoetter
And they hand her the tickets.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And this is the ticket itself. Yeah.
Iryna Baramidze
It’s ticket. Today, 14.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Yeah.
Iryna Baramidze
14 today.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Yes, yes, yes.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Leaving that night —
Clare Toeniskoetter
March 14, yes.
Clare Toeniskoetter
— to Hanover.
Iryna Baramidze
But it’s near Sven’s city, I think. Essen.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Essen. And you’ve never been to Germany before.
Iryna Baramidze
No. Never.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And why Essen? You have someone in Essen now or no?
Iryna Baramidze
Because Sven’s from Essen. Maybe it will not Essen, maybe another city.
Clare Toeniskoetter
But you don’t know where you’ll sleep.
Iryna Baramidze
No, I don’t know. No, where — right, I know. I will sleep on train.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Sven is from Essen. And I know that over the past few days, he has been telling Iryna he could try to help her find a place, and maybe even a job in Germany, if that’s what she decided on. And he warned that because so many refugees were coming now, things might start filling up there, but Iryna hadn’t told him or Gosia that she’d decided on Germany. I try to understand why Germany, and why now, with no plan in place, nowhere to sleep that night.
Iryna Baramidze
Because in Poland, it’s full of Ukrainian people.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Right.
Iryna Baramidze
Very full.
And I hope that they will have in Germany better jobs. I don’t know nothing, really. I don’t know. It’s only my thinking. I think like this, but what’s real? I don’t know.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And did you consider Italy after meeting Sofia two days ago?
Iryna Baramidze
No.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Why no?
Iryna Baramidze
I don’t know why. We want to be near Ukraine.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Yes.
Iryna Baramidze
Ukraine, Poland, and after this, Germany.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Yes.
Iryna Baramidze
I don’t know nothing, really. I will see. I will see.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Like the morning two weeks earlier, when she woke up and decided she needed to leave Kyiv for Poland, today, Iryna woke up and finally realized she needs to make her next move. It was like a switch flipped.
Iryna Baramidze
So we must do something, and we will go to Germany.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Yes. Yes.
Iryna Baramidze
OK, we can go?
Clare Toeniskoetter
Yes.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Iryna still has a few hours before the train leaves.
She buys a gift for Sven and Gosia — some tea. She asks for the best of the best.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Two minutes?
Iryna Baramidze
Mm-hmm.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And then, we take the tram back to their apartment, where she’ll tell them that she’s leaving and pack her bags.
Clare Toeniskoetter
One of the reasons you said you’ve stayed in Poland for so long is because you’ve had hope that the war will end soon, and you could go home soon. Do you think deciding to go to Germany means you’ve, in some ways, given up that hope?
Iryna Baramidze
No, I every day hope that I will go to home soon. Every day. I don’t know. Maybe after five minutes, we will send messages it’s all finished, and they will go to home, I will not go to Germany. We will see. We will see. I don’t know.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And what emotion do you feel right now?
Iryna Baramidze
Nothing. I don’t feel nothing, really. [INAUDIBLE] some days, four days, maybe five days, I don’t know. And after this, I think I feel something. Not now.
Clare Toeniskoetter
So thank you. Good luck.
Iryna Baramidze
Thank you very much. Thank you. Bye-bye.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Six days later —
Clare Toeniskoetter
Hi! Iryna?
Iryna Baramidze
Hi, hi, Clare. Hi.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Hi.
Clare Toeniskoetter
I catch up with Iryna over the phone.
Iryna Baramidze
How are you?
Clare Toeniskoetter
I’m OK. How are you?
Iryna Baramidze
Um, I don’t know. Because I have a lot, a lot, a lot of travel situation. I don’t know, really.
Clare Toeniskoetter
She tells me that a lot had happened since she left the relative stability of Sven and Gosia’s apartment.
Iryna Baramidze
We go to Germany. In Germany, we don’t have flat, room, nothing. We ask some people what we must do. They give the address — address camp.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Sven wasn’t able to organize a home for Iryna, Yuri and other Iryna’s family in Germany. And instead, they went to a big refugee camp.
Iryna Baramidze
Mm-hmm. We come to this camp. All people use one toilet, one shower.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And after two nights, she decided that she didn’t want to stay there. So they got on another train.
Iryna Baramidze
We see this train go to Switzerland, and we think, maybe go to this country. OK, go.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And almost by accident, they wound up in Basel, Switzerland.
Iryna Baramidze
We go to policeman, ask what we must do. Again, he give map. We must go to camp.
Clare Toeniskoetter
— where they were sent to another big refugee camp.
Iryna Baramidze
And we stayed two days. And yesterday, our government sent us in another camp.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And then, the Swiss government sent them to a third camp.
Iryna Baramidze
It’s some village in the mountain.
Clare Toeniskoetter
In the mountains, overlooking the small 4,000-person village of Egerkingen.
Clare Toeniskoetter
And that’s where you stay now?
Iryna Baramidze
Yeah, yes, yes. And very good. I think we’re lucky, very lucky. Yes.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Now, a week later, Iryna’s still living at this refugee center. It’s a former psychiatric hospital with about 200 beds. It opened for Ukrainian refugees in mid-March. She says it’s comfortable. She has a private room with two bunk beds — for her, Yuri and two people from other Iryna’s family.
They get about $10 a day to buy food. Iryna spends her days with Yuri, and cooking with other Iryna’s sister. And she’s still volunteering, however she can. An official from the camp tells me that Iryna has taken it upon herself to organize a cleaning schedule for all the residents. But —
Clare Toeniskoetter
Will you work in Switzerland?
Iryna Baramidze
I don’t know nothing, really. They don’t give me any information.
Clare Toeniskoetter
She’s no closer to finding a job or school for Yuri. He’s taking some classes online, but he’s not making friends at the camp. He won’t talk to the other kids.
Iryna Baramidze
I move. Don’t worry about my life and about my son. But I of course worry about my family in Kyiv. Every day, we speak, send a message. Every day.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Iryna calls her husband and her mom back in Kyiv. After we got off the phone, she sent me a video of a bomb and said, it’s today. Near my house.
It’s been three weeks since I met Iryna. And in many ways, so much has changed for her. She’s gone from relying on a loose network of volunteers to a bureaucratic system of government aid. And in navigating this, she’s had to start over, again and again.
But in another way, nothing has changed for her. Her life and her family are still in Ukraine, and she is still in limbo, waiting to get back to them.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Iryna, when I talked to you the day you left for Germany, you told me that you weren’t allowing yourself to feel any emotions. Now that you’re planning to stay in Switzerland, have you allowed yourself to feel anything?
Iryna Baramidze
No. No, no. I know I must stay in this place to save our life.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Mm-hmm.
Iryna Baramidze
I know that after some time, all will be OK. I know this. I must only wait, only wait. And I hope all will be OK.
Clare Toeniskoetter
Yes. Me, too.
Iryna Baramidze
Of course. Yes.
Clare Toeniskoetter
In a statement, O.R.S., which provides assistance to refugees in Switzerland, cited the enormous challenge Ukrainians face trying to integrate into Swiss life. They said they have started searching for more permanent housing for Iryna and Yuri, and that they expect her to have the chance to find work.
Sabrina Tavernise
Here’s what else you need to know today. Russia signaled a possible scaling-back of its war aims in Ukraine. On Friday, Russia’s defense ministry said in a statement that the goals of the, quote, “first stage of the operation” had been, quote, “mainly accomplished,” and that it would now focus on securing Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region, where Russia-backed separatists have been fighting for eight years. It was not clear whether the statement was sincere or simply a strategic misdirection, but it amounted to the most direct acknowledgment since the war began that Russia was having difficulty taking full control of Ukraine.
Joe Biden
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Sabrina Tavernise
And on Saturday —
Archived Recording (Joe Biden)
Rather than breaking Ukrainian resolve, Russia’s brutal tactics have strengthened the resolve.
Sabrina Tavernise
President Biden ended his three-day trip to Europe with an impassioned speech in Warsaw denouncing Putin.
Archived Recording (Joe Biden)
A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never erase the people’s love for liberty.
Sabrina Tavernise
In the speech, Biden seemed to call for the ouster of the Russian leader.
Archived Recording (Joe Biden)
For god’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.
Sabrina Tavernise
That’s it for The Daily. I’m Sabrina Tavernise. See you tomorrow.
Yuri and Iryna Baramidze waiting for
a train in Krakow, Poland. After the bombing started in Kyiv, she said she felt
that she had to get out.
Credit...Clare Toeniskoetter/The New York
Times