A Ukrainian couple who fled the war and drove 3,000km to Ireland have had their car broken into and most of their belongings stolen.
Terrified Anass and Olena, both 28, rushed to leave Kyiv as bombs rained down after the Russian invasion began on February 24.
There was so much congestion as they set off for the Slovakian border it took them 10 hours to reach the city of Zhytomyr, 150km away.
Read more: Red Cow Hotel and Ukrainian families grateful for donations as 300 refugees set up home
Their mammoth 15-day road journey took them through Ukraine, Slovakia, Czech Rep, Belgium, Germany and France.
Anass said they had been overwhelmed by kindness shown to them since arriving here two weeks ago. The couple had been staying at the Travelodge in Ballymun with other refugees and had loaded their car with belongings as they had been preparing to travel to hotel in Cork yesterday morning.
Anass, who travelled by ferry to Ireland from Cherbourg, said: “We were asleep and someone smashed a window and broke into our car in the underground parking lot of the shielding centre late on Wednesday night or early on Thursday.
“They took most of our belongings, clothes, shoes, a laptop, a tablet, which was all we could carry when we left Kyiv under the sounds of bombings.
“This is the last thing we would expect to happen in Ireland after the people here have been nothing but good to us.” Anass, praised gardai who carried out a forensic examination of the scene and found blood and gathered CCTV evidence.
He said: “What took us by surprise was that they could see that it was Ukrainian plates on the car.
“For us it was just the idea that the whole world knows about Ukraine and so to see a Ukrainian car with plates and break into it and steal our belongings.
“It was obvious we are refugees and this is all we have.. and to feel comfortable going through all of our stuff and everything it just felt so inhumane but then we are not the kind of people who would judge everyone here on one incident.”
The couple said that are very worried about Olena’s parents, in their late 50s, who are near Luhansk. They have not been able to reach them by telephone for two weeks.
Anass said Luhansk is now a Russian-controlled territory and Ukrainian people are being threatened and forced to fight with the Russian army or be killed.
The IT specialist added: “We tried everything to call them but the numbers are not working and there is no signal as if the phones are off.
“We know that before there were a lot of bombings around there but at least up until two weeks ago we knew they were alive at least and they were safe.
“For sure we are worried about them, from seeing what was happening when we were leaving Ukraine and now seeing what’s happening at this point, it’s really worrying, especially in the Luhansk area.”
Anass believes he and Olena, a psychologist, will be in Ireland for the forseeable future as the war rages on.
He added: “Out of all the countries we have been to honestly we did not feel welcome or supported in most of those countries. However, when we came to Ireland it was really the first time we were able to take a deep breath and say finally we are here in a place where we were welcomed.”
Meanwhile, over half of Ukrainian children have had to leave their homes since the outbreak of Russia’s illegal invasion.
It’s been one month since the order was given by Vladimir Putin to begin the “special military operation”, with thousands of people killed and cities destroyed by airstrikes in the time since then.
And now, UNICEF has revealed some stark statistics about how much damage the invasion is causing to Ukraine’s population.
A new report from the aid organisation has stated that the war has led to the displacement of 4.3 million
children – more than half of the country’s estimated 7.5 million child population.
This includes more than 1.8 million children who have crossed into neighbouring countries as refugees and 2.5 million who are now internally displaced inside Ukraine.
UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell said: “The war has caused one of the fastest large scale displacements of children since World War II.
“This is a grim milestone that could have lasting consequences for generations to come. Children’s safety, wellbeing and access to essential services are all under threat from non-stop horrific violence.” According to OHCHR, 78 children have been killed, and 105 have been injured in Ukraine since the start of the war on 24 February.
Yet these figures represent only those reports that the UN has been able to confirm and the true toll is likely far higher.
The war has also had devastating consequences on civilian infrastructure and access to basic services.
An estimated 1.4 million people now lack access to safe water, while 4.6 million people have limited access to water or are at risk of being cut off.
- Anass has set up a GoFundMe page and is appealing for help from the Irish public and donations can be made here.
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