Russia’s attack on Ukraine marked the start of a long journey for Sasha from her home in Kyiv to an emergency tented village on Gormanston Army camp in Co Meath.
The 18 year old and her family left the Desniansky district, an eastern borough of the Ukrainian capital, at the end of March as the Russian attacks came closer and closer to her home.
“There were too many shootings at that time. A missile hit a house near us. That was the time when we decided to go abroad,” she said as she walked down the narrow road leading to the Co Meath camp that is normally used for military training by the Defence Forces.
Sasha is one of the first 150 Ukrainians to be housed in tents erected at the camp after the Government’s existing supply of State-provided accommodation reached full capacity last week.
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She was on one of the first two coaches to Gormanston on Tuesday as a surge in new arrivals pushed the number of Ukrainians to arrive in Ireland since February to more than 43,000.
Sasha’s family first travelled to Lviv in western Ukraine, then to Poland and after that to Lithuania where they spent two months with relatives. In Lithuania, relatives are not paid to look after Ukrainian refugees so they were asked to move on. The family chose Ireland.
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“We don’t have many places to go to. A family friend who lives here said that it’s a good country with opportunities,” said Sasha.
Walking on the country lane alongside her, Anastasia, her friend, came to Ireland alone.
A resident of Kyiv, she and her family were at their country home near Vasylkiv, southwest of the Ukrainian capital, when the Russians invaded on February 24th.
She and her family decided to flee the country when the Russians occupied the village next to them. They travelled to Austria where they stayed for four months.
“I tried to learn German but it didn’t work well. So I decided to go to Ireland as it is an English-speaking country so I can study and work here,” she said.
Anastasia and Sasha are both grateful for the accommodation even if it means staying in a tent.
“We have beds, showers and tasty food. Volunteers told us that it is a temporary decision for us and maybe on Friday they will move us somewhere else,” said Anastasia.
Next to the Army camp on Gormanston beach, Alyona (54), Oksana (48) and her 14-year-old son Eygeniy appear tired after their long journey to Ireland.
Originally from Kharkiv, the eastern Ukrainian city that has sustained heavy Russian shelling, the three of them left the city in March and travelled to the Khmelnytskyi region in western Ukraine.
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Volunteers in Ireland helped them to travel here. The bus journey from Lviv to Dublin took eight days in total. They don’t speak English but plan to learn it.
“We just don’t have a choice; we won’t be able to find a job if we don’t learn the language,” said Alyona, speaking in Ukrainian.
They find the conditions in the Gormanston camp comfortable and have everything they need: a bed, a shower and food. They don’t know when they will moved but they aren’t complaining.
“We are happy to be safe and we like Ireland a lot already,” said Oksana.
“People are very nice, helpful and friendly here so we are very optimistic about our future.”