UKRAINE

A DIARY OF A WAR - REFUGEE CRISIS

BY AN

OBSERVER

FRANTIŠEK GEISLER

CONTENTS

Click on page number to access date range

The national flag of Ukraine symbolises the blue skies and the fertility of the land

Christmas 2021 – email to friends

I always keep our emails on a social level and avoid dabbling in politics. I shall leave my thoughts on ‘partygate’ to one side as I believe that there is one subject that is far more important and that  is Russian intentions.

 

A possible Russian invasion of Ukraine has been on our minds for the last eight years or so and certainly since the invasion of Crimea and then the incursions of Russian backed fighters in the eastern Donbas region and with the shooting down of the Malaysian airliner. Each year since, around this time, the threat of invasion increases as the winter bites and the ground is frozen solid the conditions become ideal for heavy armour and tracked troop carriers.

 

For me it is very reminiscent of West Germany in the 60s and 70s and the heightened tension over the Iron Curtain as Soviet troops moved forward towards the East German border. We often stood by on one hours notice to move to the border down from the usual standby of four hours notice. I often patrolled right up to the Demarcation Line between West and East and observed Soviet soldiers even to the point of shaking hands with them and passing western cigarettes over the small white posts that actually marked West and East. This was only made possible when the double fence with the mines in between was under repair which necessitated the soldiers coming close to the Line. Will this happen again on the border with Poland and Russian Ukraine? I somehow doubt it.

 

Our home is just 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Ukraine border, I feel that I am going back to my times in West Germany 55 years ago with each year this Russian threat, and that is all it was a threat. However this winter the threat is so much more substantial and having dismissed it in the past I now feel that an invasion is about to happen and suddenly I will again be just kilometres away from Russia. Is there fear of an incursion into the Baltic States and Poland? In the years to come I believe that this is entirely possible as Russia seeks to retake the land it lost in 1989. And what will Europe do? I fear nothing!

 

Then we have Israel and Iran. China and Taiwan – everything could happen at once. Am I being fanciful with all this – I certainly hope so.

24th February 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine and immediately the human tide entered Europe and affected everyone.

This is a compilation of the updates sent to our friends throughout the conflict.

27/02/2022

We live just 50 kms from the Ukraine border in the very south east of Poland – the spit of land with the Carpathian mountains that sticks into Ukraine.

How the situation in Ukraine and my situation close to their border reminds me of Germany in the 60s and 70s. I have been writing short essays for many months now on my views of a potential invasion of Ukraine this winter which have gone round my family and friends here in Poland, the Czech Republic, the Americas and friends in the UK. In fact for eight years I have been sharing my views of the Russian backed ‘separatists the Donbas region and the dangers for the Baltic States where my Regiment as the lead in the battlegroup has already spent six months.

At the moment our thoughts are very much with the people of Ukraine, with Ukrainian and Russian solders with many of the latter probably just following orders not knowing they are at war and not on exercise.

Thankfully having a good VPN I am able to have rolling BBC News permanently on, Barbara has Polish rolling news but it is not as dependable as the BBC in its reporting often quoting unreliable social media.

Lviv which is 150 kms from us was under air and ground attack, jets, helicopters and parachutists, the attack was repelled. And we heard this morning that there was an air strike just 18 kms from the Polish border. Here there was panic buying of fuel when the war started with many petrol stations out of fuel though now everything has stabilised. At our nearest border crossing there are hundreds of cars waiting to cross into Poland the queue is more than 20 kilometres long and it is taking 30 hours to cross. There are RAF typhoons overhead being refuelled by Voyagers which we can see and hear also RAF surveillance aircraft over us flying up and down the border here, Slovakia and Romania . There are more NATO troops landing in our nearest airport Rzeszów this has been going on for more than two weeks now.

Local communities have got together and organised food collections which are being taken to the border crossing point to be handed out to those fleeing. Barbara's sister’ little shop in our tiny village has already a large quantity of food for the border given by both locals and the tourists going to the ski lifts here. In our local spa town two sanatoriums have been emptied of patients and have been prepared to take battle casualties, military and civilian from Ukraine.

Barbara and I cannot sit back and do nothing. I can just accept that I am too old to join Ukraine’ International Legion that Liz Truss has endorsed today.

Yesterday evening we made the decision to open our tourist accommodation to Ukrainian refugees, we could take 6 people comfortably. We have near neighbours who are in the Polish Border Guard and both work at the nearest Ukraine crossing point to us so this morning as they were back from night shift when they processed 2,500 refugees we took advice from them as it had been our intention to drive immediately to the border crossing. However the advice is not to go at the moment, they will be on duty again tomorrow and will let us know when and how we should go to help. It rather sounds that there is chaos on the border on both sides with thousands of people with on the Polish side being held back by police, it certainly does not appear that central government is organising anything right there on the border it is the local people, local districts who are providing support. We shall wait until we are called.

Barbara who lived with her farming family under ruthless communism in this eastern part of Poland for the first 30 years of her life is nervous of the future and the war spilling over.

It is a tragedy.

02/03/2022

Yesterday afternoon Barbara and I went to the Ukraine border in the heavily forested low mountains of the very south-east of Poland however our Polish Border Guard neighbours had told us that the actual border crossing was a no go area.  Even the reception centre two of three kilometres from the border was difficult to get to as the police were everywhere controlling the situation. However with persuasion and friendliness we did get to the village to find that the reception centre was a primary school that had been taken over. All around there were emergency vehicles, laden buses coming in from the border, coaches going out.

 

We witnessed the conditions inside the school with people on the floor, on sun beds and mats in corridors and classrooms, it was a sort of organised chaos. The reception centre was being run by local people including the school teachers, they looked exhausted but were in good spirits, prepared to talk with us and understanding of our concern for the refugees. There was an abundance of food, hot meals, clothes and nappies indeed virtually anything one needed.

 

There were no adult male refugees just mainly young women and children I saw smiles and tears, happy children playing with new toys and crying babies. The atmosphere was palpable.

 

Outside there was mud everywhere the snow being churned up by so many vehicles, the temperature hovering on zero. We spent quite some time there including talking to amicable police to try and fully understand the situation however to cut a long story short except for refugees who had relatives or friends picking them up the vast majority only wanted to get on the coaches there to be driven well away mainly to the west of Poland but also Germany and even France. This surprised me as I had thought that they would want to stay close to the border so that as soon as it was safe they could go home quickly. Understandably they were scared of getting into a stranger’s  car much preferring to keep with the crowd on the coaches. Barbara talked to some and she could see the fear and exhaustion on their faces and words.

 

So we came away empty handed, sobered from what we had seen but at least feeling that we have tried. Our accommodation and food which we freely give is now registered and we shall await to hear more from the local authorities.

 

I didn’t take photographs inside the school as I really felt humbled by what I saw it was such a heart rending scene.

In thoughts for all involved in this war, the people of Ukraine and their soldiers.

02/03/2022

Late afternoon today the first refugees arrived in our tourist accommodation they came from Lviv having travelled for three days, a distance of only 200 kms. A mother and teenage daughter, Iryna speaks only Ukrainian with a little Russian however the daughter, Nastya, speaks English so thank goodness we can easily communicate. Barbara’s Russian is largely forgotten having been taught it during communist times but hardly used in the last 30 years. We visited Lviv 5 years ago when we found them selling this on the streets.....

 

 

They are a lovely pair, happy, smiling and so incredibly grateful BUT husband remains in Lviv with their dog, he awaits the Russian advance on the city to fight. This is the tragedy of so many split families.

 

We settled them in and then left them to themselves but we shall spend more time in the morning with them and run them around as necessary also we aim for them to eat the main meal with us tomorrow and I’ sure at other times. I feel that the other spare room will be filled very soon. This is our tourist accommodation where they are www.pastwiska.pl/nocleg/letting.html   We will fund then completely though I have set up a UK bank account should anyone wish to contribute.

03/03/2022

Our small village of around two hundred persons has opened up its heart, in late 1944 to 1947 war raged here and around with the Ukrainian army attempting to take over this area, there were individual battles and brutal killings, wooden houses burned. Some villagers still have weapons from that time secreted away. Today we welcome their refugees and this morning there will be twelve more refugees arriving in various homes in the village with more to come. It is truly humbling.

 

I set up the special bank account simply because my oldest friend from cub scout days continues as a vicar of a parish in south-west Cornwall and whom I keep in very regular contact with read out an email I had sent to him regarding the war and the plight of refugees during his Sunday Sermon and immediately the parishioners decided that on the following Sunday and the next the offertory would be for refugees. Subsequently another church, with the warden a friend of mine, in a village close to Bath is doing the same.

 

It is a Nationwide account just for this purpose. I have a means of transferring and converting money into local currency at no cost and at the best exchange rate.

 

The money collected will be for food and particularly winter clothing, as winter and sub zero temperatures are very much with us still, for those refugees with us and with other refugees in our village.

07/03/2022

 

I apologise for this round robin but honestly it is the only way that I can keep up with you and your very much appreciated emails to us.

 

Firstly I have to thank you most sincerely for your donations most gratefully received, there are some of you that I can identify and have been able to send a personal word of thanks but there are other donations that I have no idea as to whom sent them and it is to you that I say thank you here.

 

The refugee situation is chaotic in Poland local authorities are simply overrun and central government has no idea what to do so does nothing leaving everything to volunteers. The Polish army has disappeared and are nowhere to be seen and certainly not involved in the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding in Poland. Thankfully there are thousands like us, opening up accommodation and helping these poor escaping people, who are just like you and me, to give them warmth and comfort and a great deal of understanding in their plight.

 

It is cold and snowing here. Yesterday Barbara and I delivered portions of our Sunday lunch to the refugees in our tourist accommodation. We had invited them to us but they are completely overwhelmed by the kindness that is being shown to them and declined hence us taking the meal to them. We were talking in a combination of languages – Ukrainian, Russian, Polish and English when suddenly Irina broke down, we were hugging each other and there were tears everywhere, this is how it is. We have taken them shopping for warmer clothes and food but they hate to be away from the accommodation and the internet where they can have physical contact with their families in Ukraine. Also away from Polish television which is broadcasting the main Ukrainian television channel so that they have news in their own language.

 

We continue to be overflown, exactly overhead us, by RAF typhoons and NATO Eurofighters being refuelled by Voyagers out of the UK and Germany. Plus surveillance aircraft and drones watching everything that is going on over the border.

 

On the war itself we tend to have more detail of events than the BBC and the detail we get is corroborated by journalists on the ground:-

 

Ukraine's deputy prime minister and minister for the reintegration of the occupied territories, Irina Wereszczuk, said on Monday that Moscow refused to take the bodies of Russian soldiers and assessed that the Kremlin was trying to hide the scale of the losses on its side in this way, reports Interfax-Ukraine.

- The Russians do not even want to negotiate on this topic. Apparently they think that the bodies of their military personnel are not worth it to return to their homeland and be humanly buried - added Wereszczuk.

- Of course, we are shocked by such cruelty even towards our own people. But that won't stop our army. We are on our own land - emphasized the Deputy Prime Minister

 

These are chilling words but true,

 

We received a request to help support a low cost hotel over the hill in our local spa town Rymanów Zdroj which has 60 refugees staying there and as the rooms do not have the facilities for them to cook for themselves the hotel is feeding all of them, in the next days we shall look into this together with another tourist accommodation that is similarly becoming overwhelmed by increasing costs.

 

This is the true state of Poland today – overwhelmed.

09/03/2022

 

Thank you to you all most sincerely for your continuing very generous donations. It would be wrong for me to be specific but I have to mention the Reverend Brian McQuillen, my friend from cub scout days, vicar of the tiny parish of Gorran in south-west Cornwall whose mainly elderly parishioners collected the magnificent sum of £800 last Sunday  www.stgoranandstmichael.org.uk/about-us/

 

Yesterday afternoon Barbara and I visited the guesthouses/hotels and tourist accommodations in the local area where refugees are staying to assess the financial requirements and how best we can pass the donations over to them. We of course met some of the refugees all of them young mothers and children. Unlike last Tuesday when we were at the border reception centre with everyone jammed together they were comfortable and warm, eating at tables and sleeping in uncrowded rooms and on proper beds. You cannot talk about their experiences their minds are just fixed on their husbands, brothers and fathers fighting, they cling to their phones waiting news from home. You cannot smile because they don’ smile and when they do they are forced smiles of gratitude. Barbara hands out sweets to the children who just don’ know what is going on. It is terribly sad.

They brought money with them but that is fast running out, one family of mother (father is fighting) and three children will have no money by the weekend their hosts are trying to find a job for the mother as teenager can look after the two younger ones. This is a very poor part of Poland substantially agriculture and jobs are at a premium – what are they going to do? And this is just one family story and you will be helping them.

At the hotel we talked with the owner of the problems she is facing and we offer her money to help her feeding costs of up to 60 refugees who come for one or two nights and then move on again, she doesn’t know us and we don’ know her and she just breaks down in tears at the generosity. The hotel gives free accommodation and free food for the first two days of their stay after that the owners rely on local people to help pay for the food for them. She is exhausted with all the trauma of seeing  and hearing the stories of the refugees and trying to make sure that they are well looked after, comfortable and there is enough money coming in to feed them.

 

Polish friends of ours locally with an 8 year old daughter were stunned when the girl asked them when she should pack to escape the war, and a life lesson on the border – our local High School is sending teachers/priests with 18 and 19 year old students to the border crossing at Medyka, that you will see often on BBC News, in relays of 10 hour shifts to help with the reception of refugees. From a distant family member in the Polish army we find out that the Polish army is sitting in barracks doing nothing – disgraceful leaving the reception of refugees to school children, teachers and priests. Meanwhile all Ukrainian schools are teaching online, Nastya here is now having seven or eight lessons a day.

 

Our own refugees have the heating turned down to save energy and our cost. It’ minus 5C outside and it’ snowing heavily. How can we tell them to do otherwise? This is our tourist accommodation this morning and it has continued snowing all day since

and a separate suite of two ensuite double bedrooms and sitting room with kitchenette and open fireplace.

The shop in the main building is run by my sister-in-law it sells everything from fresh bread to soap powder, the refugees in the village are using it and whatever they need is either given to them or if they really insist on paying then everything is at cost price.

 

Meanwhile our Border Guard neighbours report that on the border the people are squashed together as thousand try to cross and the queues are horrendous in freezing conditions and falling snow, they feel it is absolute disorganised chaos and whenever an overhead sound is heard the refugees fall to the ground expecting an aerial bombardment. Thank goodness for the moment it not so but how long will it be before the Russian or Belarusian army attack in the west of Ukraine down the Polish border.

 

We can expect even without that Russian move thousands more refugees and hundreds to our area.

12/03/2022

Thank you again to you all most sincerely for your continuing very generous donations. Barbara and I are overwhelmed by the unselfishness you have shown.

 

Yesterday Barbara visited the hotel which has been opened up by its owners mainly to be used as transit accommodation for the refugees the majority of whom stay for two nights or so before going further west whilst a few stay for longer until found alternative long term accommodation locally. The hotel owners are doing this out of the kindness of their hearts, there is no central Polish government organisation. Accommodation is free and full meals for two days are free. You are already helping them cope. Whilst today we have concentrated on assisting those refugees in our village, Barbara is constantly on the phone either seeking accommodation for new refugees or to those kind persons who are overflowing with too many of them.

 

The local High School where I used to voluntarily hold English classes for the students in the year before matriculation are in shifts working 24 hours a day with their teachers and priests at the main border crossing Medyka which is often on the BBC news caring for the refugees in the reception centre there. A friend of mine, a local government official and special needs teacher finished a volunteering night shift with 18 and 19 year olds from the High School on the border, his words “ very sad living lesson”

 

Again this is not centrally organised but led by local school and church organisations. During Thursday night the school moved 40 refugees to the hotel mentioned above, nobody got any sleep and Barbara witnessed it all in the morning. Many of those that she saw and spoke to were elderly, this is the first time we have seen refugees other than mothers with children, these refugees were not so well off as others arriving with little more than a few plastic bags. They literally have nowhere to go, are completely shaken after days and days of travelling from the war torn east, dazed and disorientated. They have virtually no money and no additional clothing. We still have thick snow and the temperature last night was minus 17C and still well below zero as I write in the early evening.

 

On the brighter side, incredibly Ukrainian schools have started online lessons for all sixth grade and above, what fortitude they have and they really are an example to us all. Nastya in our accommodation takes dancing classes twice a week back in Ukraine and they too have gone online for refugees. Our local ski resort 4 kms up the valley from us is offering free skiing for refugees, equipment and access to the three lifts there plus a beginners class for free every day. We have friends with a 6 year old daughter and before the father went to Medyka to volunteer on a night shift she gave him some of her toys to give to refugee children there – heart warming.

 

There is an interesting film produced by the Ukrainians that you may not have seen https://youtu.be/qEXjnMtGdXM and some refugee facts in Poland – 10% of Warsaw's population is now made up of refugees, in Krakow it is 13% of the population.

 

Pope Francis said today:-

"No more war! First of all, think about children who are denied hope for a dignified life, children who are killed, orphans, children who play with dud shells. In the name of God, remember yourselves."

13/03/2022

 

On Sunday morning the war came to our doorstep with a missile attack just a few kilometres inside Ukraine from the Polish border, frankly all it needs is for a cruise missile to cross the border and then? I have been a firm believer that the Ukraine war would not penetrate into Poland or the Baltic States unfortunately now I am questioning myself over the logic of my beliefs.

 

There is genuine fear here in Poland.

 

Air activity directly overhead us has increased dramatically from very early Sunday morning, our nephew who lives within sight of Rzeszow airport is reporting an incredible number of very large cargo planes going in and out in addition to even more troop carriers coming in from the US, UK and Europe. The surveillance aircraft are overlapping themselves and the number of fighters patrolling has increased. For better understanding; we normally have very few aircraft overflying us and those that do are at maximum altitude and hardly heard whilst now there is an almost continuous aircraft sound with the biggest noise coming from the Voyager tankers which at night it is like rolling thunder.

 

Back to refugees. So much is being done by the Polish people, little being done by the Polish government. Today our local ski lifts were open to the refugees with everything needed for skiing including food, all free. You could be forgiven to think there was no war with those missiles less than 80 kilometres away from here, perfect snow, piercing blue skies and the happiness of the children most never having been on skis before. Their mothers with baby carriages watching at the bottom of the beginners slope or sitting on the restaurant sun terrace and for a few moments relaxing. There were scores refugees there all day using a fleet of cars and mini buses provided by local people.

 

If you missed this please find a moment to watch www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0015qlt/our-world-platform-5-escaping-ukraine

 

War is too close to us.

 

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