'I called [my husband] Andrei from Poland every single day for four months, crying and saying, 'I want to come home. I want to come home.''
One year since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, roughly half of Ukraine's pre-war population of 40 million people has been driven from their homes, creating the largest refugee crisis of the 21st century. The big, unanswerable question: When, if ever, will they be able to return home again? As the conflict continues to displace additional Ukrainians every day, the resulting uncertainly has the potential to reshape a continent scarred by its deadliest war in decades.
Since able-bodied men of fighting age are not allowed to leave Ukraine, the majority of refugees are women, children and older people.Vladimir, a taxi driver from a frotline town in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region that's been nearly completely destroyed by the war, suffered a stroke and broken hip when a Russian artillery blast blew him out of a second story window in April.
A woman and her children eye the damage to buildings near their apartment in Mykolaiv. They originally fled to Poland but returned this summer."Protracted" is the operative word.
The longer the war, the less likely Ukrainian refugees will return home. Here, soldiers in Donbas take cover after firing at Russian positons.United for Ukraine CEO Dana Pavlychko, who settled in Germany after fleeing Kyiv with her two small children on February 24 of last year, helps fellow refugees navigate the options available to them.
In a nation of 40 million stories, however, there are still myriad examples of Ukrainians abroad weighing their options and choosing the hardships of home over the security of life in a developed economy protected byNastia and her two children fit into this category. When Nastia's husband, Andrei, woke up on the morning of February 24, 2022, the windows of their Mykolaiv apartment were shaking.
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