First Ukrainian refugees arrive in Germany

“Today we had 75 Ukrainians. It’s not a lot, but we expect a lot more in the days to come, “said Sascha Langenbach, spokesperson for the German capital’s migrant management body, on Saturday. “Their amazement at what is happening at home is almost palpable,” he testifies. In the reception center in North Berlin, officials have set up 1,300 beds and this number is expected to double in the coming days. The workforce has also been reinforced with Ukrainian or Russian speaking staff.

If, unlike Poland or Romania, the leading European economy is not yet in the front line, it could become one fairly quickly. Berlin has promised to ‘provide massive aid’ to Ukrainians fleeing bombs and the country has a generous reputation for asylum, having taken in hundreds of thousands of Middle Eastern migrants after 2015 in the wake of civil war in Syria, then several thousand more last year during the new “migrant crisis” orchestrated by Belarus. The German capital was also the scene of a large demonstration, bringing together several thousand people at the Brandenburg Gate, in support of Ukraine.

“We can’t go home”

Svetlana Z. knew it was time to leave Ukraine when air traffic was disrupted at the airport near her home in Kharkiv. “It was a hunch. When the planes stopped flying, we knew something serious was about to start,” she explains, holding her 2.5-year-old son in her arms, while waiting with her companion for his check-in. in a reception center in Berlin.

The family are among the first dozen refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine who have already started arriving in Germany. For Svetlana and her family, the odyssey began on Tuesday. They all piled some luggage into their “old car” and drove west. Less than two days later the Russian president announced the invasion of their country. “In the west of the country, in Lviv, we couldn’t find a place to sleep,” says Svetlana. So they continued to drive, first crossing Poland and finally arriving in Berlin on Friday. Why didn’t they stay in Poland, closer to home? She bursts into tears: “We can’t go home”.

“I don’t know what will become of me here”

The normal procedure is to register asylum seekers first in a “first reception” centre, before finding them a lasting home elsewhere. However, those in charge of the center advise those who can to wait a few days. The reason ? They believe that the authorities will soon relax the legislation for Ukrainians and allow faster procedures. “It would make it much easier for them to integrate here,” says Sascha Langenbach.

Dmitry Chevniev, a 39-year-old tattoo artist, is one of those who prefer to wait a while before filing an asylum application. He got stuck in Berlin while visiting friends. “I arrived two weeks ago and now I can’t go home,” he says. His wife and their 4-year-old son are currently in Russia, visiting family. In the center, he tries to find out how to get them to come.

Stanislav Shalamai, 26, is relieved to have obtained a roof for the night on the spot. He left Kiev on February 15, as fears of the outbreak of war mounted. “I was nervous, so I took my stuff and left,” he said. With a duffel bag and duvet with him, he took a bus to Warsaw, then another to Berlin. Today he cannot realize what is happening in his country. “40 million Ukrainians live there, no one asked them anything and suddenly an army comes in and starts shooting to kill people,” he says. “I don’t know what will happen to me here (…) I don’t know what will happen to Ukraine, I’ll have to wait,” he sighs.