Ukrainians are sailing to new lives in Sweden
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Nynäshamn (Sweden) (AFP) – “We did not even have time to pick up our things,” says the Ukrainian refugee Ludmila Nikiforova, one of hundreds who flee the brutal conflict to Sweden every day on ferries from Poland.
Thousands of Ukrainians have arrived in the cities of Trelleborg, Ystad, Karlskrona and Nynäshamn by sea since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three weeks ago.
Ludmila and her two daughters pull their suitcases to the ferry terminal after getting off in the spring sun in Nynäshamn, a city an hour south of Stockholm.
There, along with 500 other passengers, mostly women and children, they are met by volunteers who are eager to provide them with basic necessities.
Nearby tables are stacked with water bottles, sandwiches, baby food and sanitary ware. Dog and cat food is also available for those fleeing with pets.
Donated prams and prams are lined up against a wall and a table is covered with stuffed animals for children.
Ludmila and her girls fled their home in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, after Russia began shelling the city on February 28.
“The bombing started, the plane alarm went off. We quickly packed our bags to catch the train,” Ludmila, who worked in a shoe factory, told AFP.
When they went to the train station, they heard the sound of explosions in the distance, 20-year-old Anna and her 19-year-old sister Anastasia remember.
“But it was far from us and luckily we did not meet,” says Anna, programmer.
“At Kharkiv station there were a lot of people. And when we came to Lviv there were even more people. We arrived at three in the morning and we were waiting out on the street for a train to Poland,” she adds.
They had no plan for where to go after that.
In the end, they chose Sweden, a country that was once known for its generous refugee policy and which received the highest number of asylum seekers per capita in Europe during the migration crisis in 2015.
Shelter in Sweden
More than three million people have fled Ukraine since the invasion began, according to the UN migration agency IOM, with 1.8 million of them fleeing to Poland.
To date, the ferry company Polferries has transported 5,600 Ukrainians free of charge from Poland to Nynäshamn. Other ferry lines have transported thousands more.
The Swedish Migration Agency estimated earlier this week that at least 4,000 Ukrainian refugees arrive in Sweden per day, with the actual number probably much higher as not all were registered immediately upon arrival.
Long queues have formed outside the Swedish Migration Agency’s offices around Sweden, where some have asked people to turn around and come back another day.
Meanwhile, the authorities are struggling to set up reception centers and accommodation for the tens of thousands who are expected.
The Swedish Migration Agency has prepared planning scenarios to prepare for the arrival of somewhere between 27,000 and 212,000 Ukrainians between March and June.
The top figure would top the record 163,000 asylum seekers that Sweden – a country with 10 million people – received during the migration crisis in 2015.
The country has since tightened its migration policy with reference to the strain placed on its immigration and integration systems.
Among other measures, only temporary residence permits are now granted.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Swedish government has emphasized that the EU countries must do more this time to share the burden.
For Ludmila, who has just taken her first breaths in Sweden, the future is in the air. Her mind is still focused on the past and what she and her daughters have left behind.
“We lost our house, our jobs, our lives, the little we had there. You see, people build something, strive to do or be something in life, but we lost everything.”
© 2022 AFP