Ukraine

Merle works for Mission Lifeline, a small aid organisation. Previously, their focus was on the Mediterranean. But when they saw refugees pouring in from Ukraine, they felt they had something to add: they were able to organize onward transport to Western Europe quicker than most, so refugees wouldn't be stuck in Slovakia and aid systems there wouldn't be overwhelmed. Merle and Mission Lifeline set up their tent and services just a few meters away from the Slovak-Ukrainian border crossing.   Literally a few meters down the road is the tiny village of Vyšné Nemecké. A church, a few run-down buildings, some chickens. In one of the buildings I met logistics specialists Kim and Rina. Normally, they work for a big pharmaceutical company. But they took a week off to streamline systems bringing private aid into Ukraine.

Misha, Masha and Nina are standing in a train station in Uzhhorod, a small town at the border with Slovakia. They have tried to cross the border twice. But now they are going back to their home town on the Dniper river, Cherkasy, half way between Kyiv and Dnipro. Misha, Masha and Nina in happier times        The thing is: Misha turned 18 years in January – one month before the war started. In the eyes of the Ukrainian border guards he is a fighter, who can be trained to handle weapons and to kill. He is forbidden to leave Ukraine, like all men aged 18 to 60. In his mother‘s eyes, he is a child - an exceptionally bright one for that: he‘s got a stipend to the best university in Ukraine and represented Ukraine in the Eurovision song contest for schools with his sister Masha. The other thing is: Nina and her 15-year old daughter Masha are free to go. They can walk across the border to Slovakia. Their bags will probably be carried by sympathetic border guards. Volunteers...

  Thomas has been living in Ukraine for 14 years. First, he fell in love with the country, then with an Ukrainian. They have two children, great jobs, an apartment, friends, a life of freedom in a wild country. „I crossed the border into Ukraine and immediately fell in love," says Thomas. All that is vanishing.   The children have had no school since the invasion. It's war holidays. Mother Tevika works in the regional administration. Now all state employees help handling the influx of refugees swarming into the city, Uzhhorod.     It's located at the border with Slovakia and relatively safe. Thomas is busy with the refugee flow to Western Europe – organising buses, lodging, translating from German to Russian and Ukrainian, in which he is fluent. Most of the time, he’s trooping between his native Germany, Switzerland, where he runs a consultancy firm, and Ukraine.   And he’s ready to get his own family out at an instance. They have already packed ...