Kiev, Europe Brief News – Families have been divided by the war’s frontline, and some relationships have been torn apart as men were told they must remain in Ukraine.
Olga Balaban was forced to leave her 18-year-old brother turned away after waiting for 48 hours in the cold to cross the border into Poland.
“Many of my friends said it will be ok, that it would finish soon, he [Putin] is just doing this to scare us,” she says, “but I just knew we had to go.”
So, Olga rounded up her grandmother, mother and 18-year-old brother and headed towards Kyiv central station, boarding the first train heading west towards the country’s border with the European Union (EU).
The 26-year-old recalls a relaxed atmosphere on the train which was only half-full.
“Ukrainians have been under threat for so many years. Many of us didn’t believe a full invasion could really happen,” she explains. But as the train began to snake its way through the Carpathian Mountains in western Ukraine, the severity of the situation had sunk in around the country, and thousands of people began to flock to the borders.
Olga and her family then boarded a second train at Ternopil. It was only a three-hour ride to Lviv, but she said the tension on the train was palpable. “People were starting to scream and to panic,” she says. “The train staff didn’t even ask for payment, they just let us all get on.”
Emotional Farewell
By the time Olga and her family arrived in Lviv and took a taxi to the border with Poland. Thousands of people stood in the damp bitter cold waiting for the Ukrainian border guards to let them through. “I was so completely exhausted. I’m 26, I can’t even imagine what it was like for the children,” she says.
Emotionally and physically exhausted after two days of waiting in the queue, Olga, her mother and brother finally made it. But the State Border Guard Service announced that all male citizens aged 18 to 60 cannot leave the country.
Tears appear in Olga’s eyes as she remembers the moment she had to say goodbye to her younger brother, knowing that he would soon be learning to fight one of the most powerful military forces in the world. “I could have done anything to keep him with me; I would have paid money. But what could I do?”
“I do not think it is humane to call up all men to fight,” she says, “maybe some are sick or have mental health issues.”
Their mother could not bear to leave her son behind on his own so turned back with him.
