immediately flew to the Ukrainian border
March 2 Matveyus wrote on his facebook account: “I have not yet decided what to do with a Russian passport. The ideas are varied, but the issue needs to be considered calmly.
Refuse Russian citizenship and know what it feels like to be a stateless person. Burned at the embassy. Stay and show others saying it’s not a Russian war.
So far, I’m writing in Russian to see that there are people with Russian passports who speak out against the war. “
Matvey shared this record while already on the Polish-Ukrainian border. As soon as the war started, on February 24, he and his friend (she was a Belarusian who arrived in Lithuania 1.5 years ago) decided to go where she thought it would be useful.
That day, the two of them boarded a plane and flew to Krakow, from where they travel at night near the Ukrainian-Polish border in Rzeszów. They were joined by Jovita, an employee of the Museum of Illusions in Matthias in Krakow. “Our strengths were quick thinking, billing, laptops and the ability to speak different languages,” said Money.
The city of Rzeszow is 80 km from the border, but trains run from Ukraine, roads run from several border crossings and there is no shortage of refugees.
The surveyors and their comrades rented 6 rooms in a modest hotel and set up an informal shelter for refugees there, where they can stay, take a bath, fall asleep and relax after 1-2 days.
While they were resting, Matvey and his companions sought free accommodation and transport in Poland or Lithuania.
Activity picked up
The interlocutor remembered that the first day in Poland was strange. The newcomers were not sure if they were doing the right thing. Locals looked suspicious, the hostess of the hotel did not give a discount for the week’s rent.
“At some point we talked about the fact that if we are not useful to anyone, we will go back, but try an interpreter. After that we went to look at the wall. “On Friday, the second day of the war, the Poles had set up 7 refugee reception points with hot drinks, volunteers, clothes and folding beds,” said Matvejus.
At each point there was a parking lot, the drivers of which were free to transport the Ukrainians.
“And later there was no shortage of such people willing to help refugees, sometimes even more drivers than refugees crossing the border on foot. But only for a day. It turned out that we needed at night. Already on Friday night, two girls with five children stayed with us. They arrived in one car, they were in Kiev on Thursday morning, “said Matvey after leaving.
Another family of 5 people arrived on Saturday night, followed by a couple with a small child, but they no longer fit.
So the activity took off and in the days that followed, the action was intense. “It simply came to our notice then. When people listened to us, say about the visa, we did not know what to do with them, we asked the Polish and Lithuanian migration services for information, but there was a lot of clutter. Now it is much clearer, we can give the refugees the information they need. In addition, in the beginning, the Ukrainians had to wait in line at the border for up to 2 days, and now everything is happening faster, ”said Matvey.
There is no shortage of benefactors
The initial idea of the visitor was to take care of the arrival of refugees in Lithuania, but of all the families, with everything needed, only one wanted to travel here. Most want to stay in Poland, perhaps because they are coming closer to Ukraine – many refugees have not lost hope that the war will end in a week and they will be able to return home.
“A couple of days later, the hostess of our hotel picked me up with the sign” Free accommodation and transport “and arrived at the border – she also wanted to help the refugees. Her friends brought the most necessary items to our residents – toothbrushes, shampoo, food. “Many Poles joined the group to help Ukrainians on Facebook, where they offered them free transportation, food and accommodation for an indefinite period,” said Matvey.
He added that there was usually no shortage of the necessary items at the border, and if there was a shortage, the volunteers would immediately go and transport them. Ukrainians, tired of the long road and queues at the border, were surprised that Poles are not asking for money for anything, some offered to pay.
One woman, who lived in Matveja’s station for two days, apologized and asked someone to hand over or throw away a few bags of children’s clothes, saying she had received them at the wall so that it was too difficult to continue transporting.
Did not understand what happened
What is the most painful memory of the border for Matvey? He remembered the hostess bringing two African students and a Ukrainian girl who had fled to Ukraine at night. The Ukrainian wife of one of the Africans was admitted to a local hospital. The next day, Matthew found a driver who agreed to take them to the hospital for free.
Soon the driver called Matvey shouting what was going on nonsense – the African, who went to see his wife, suddenly jumped out of 90 mph. moving car. He survived but was hit hard.
“We did not understand why he did so – whether he reacted to the stress in Ukraine or whether he wanted to commit suicide. I interacted with him just before that incident, he treated him adequately, suspected of anything disability. “The fact that students from Africa, who are also fleeing the war, live and arrive in Ukraine, and their situation is more complicated – most Ukrainians are acceptable mothers with children,” said Matvey.
Volunteers continue the activities
Matvey did not count how many refugees he had stayed in his tenant in 10 days, but the fact that most of the 15 places were still occupied.
One of the first to come to the point was a Ukrainian, who had been working on the border since the first days, but when he fell asleep he decided that he wanted to fight for his homeland – he would go back and play Molotov cocktails. Matvey and her partner convinced her that there was no need to take a risk – it could be useful in other ways.
Now Darya, together with Jovita, who is still in Krakow, oversees the point on her own (sometimes joined by other assistants). Matvejus and his friend had already returned to Vilnius, as they saw that everything was working well without them. From here, he takes care of the financial and other organizational matters of the point.
“In the beginning, I paid for something else. Now my old acquaintance living in the US wanted to do that. And another girl from Belarus really wanted out – she doesn’t have a lot of money, but wants to transfer at least 50 Eur. I spent it for this, but it was one of the investments in my life, ”said Matvejus.
And he added that now, while in Lithuania, he is still thinking about what else could be useful. He also thought about returning to Russia, where he would explain to his compatriots what was really going on. “But I thought that I would get 15 days for such activities at best, there could be a lot of bad things, and the benefits would hardly be much,” Matvejus said.
Want to cry together
Jovita Matijevska, who is now working at the point founded by Matveja, came from Lithuania 4 years ago. going to study in Krakow, I said that after receiving his call with an offer, he did not doubt. She speaks Lithuanian, Russian and Polish, so she thought it might be helpful.
She now lives in a hotel with a Ukrainian volunteer, Darya. There is also a third bed in the room, which is left for refugees when space is tight.
Jovita said: “You have to take care of things – look for people not only for accommodation, transport, but also for medical, other help or information. I don’t know what to expect that day. often people arrive late in the evening or at night, ride to meet them at the bus or train station. Here are two adults with deaf children. ”
He added that people often arrive tired, sad, with closed eyes. they will rest first and then they can plan more rationally with the volunteers what to do next.
One Ukrainian did not go to sleep when she went to sleep in the corridor back and forth at night, trying to call the rest of the family in Ukraine, and she was very worried that they might not be there anymore. However, a fellow woman contacted her relatives – it turned out that they had escaped to the basement during the bombing and had not picked up the phone.
Another story that Jovita squeezed into tears was when a woman with a son holding Ukrainian passports and her husband, a Jordanian citizen, came to them. It turned out that the man could only be in Poland or go to Jordan. They did not want to stay in Poland. Although volunteers called everywhere, they found no other option. So now, although it was very painful, the family had to divorce – she decided to go to the relatives in Israel and he and the child to Jordan.
“But there is no shortage of beautiful moments at work. Ukrainians are very grateful to everyone who helped him, so later write us letters of thanks and even poems to receive. “Although families stay with us for a short time, people make great friends, support each other and say goodbye and hope to meet at the Ukrainian border soon when they return home – they are very eager to rebuild their country,” said Jovita.