It was five in the morning on Thursday, February 24. The noise of the shelling in the city of Vinnytsia (Ukraine), propelled by the Russian military, woke up the Kolesnykovs. “It was horrible to hear the missiles, to know that the war had started… We couldn’t stay there“, says the eldest son of the family, Maksym, the only one who speaks English. This Monday, first thing in the morning, they arrived with their car in Barcelona after a route of more than 2,000 kilometers that has taken four days to cover. In front of the Servei d’Atenció a Inmigrants, Emigrants i Refugiats (SAIER) of Barcelona they asked for refuge in the city and to be able to have, in addition. a place to rest for the first time. “This is where we feel safest,” says the young man. At the moment, they are practically the first refugees that have managed to reach Catalonia after the start of the Russian invasion. Hundreds are expected to arrive in the coming days.
“Here we have nothing, we don’t know anyone: hopefully they can give us somewhere to eat, to sleep“, says Kolesnykov, 27, who has traveled with his girlfriend, his parents and his 19-year-old brother. He has traveled to seven different countries for four days fleeing the war. The family decided to escape the same morning last Thursday, as soon as they saw the first bombardments on their city. “It took us three hours to pack our bags, get our clothes and put them in the car. We filled the tank and decided to leave for Europe without knowing how far we would go,” explains the young man, despondent.
The first escape in 2014
But this is not the first time that the Kolesnykov family has had to flee their home. In 2014 they already escaped from Shakhtarsk, the city where they were born and raised. It is located in the east of the country, the Donbass region, where Russian military forces began fighting to join this region more than eight years ago. There they saw the first bombardments, combats and missiles that are present throughout the country today. “In 2014 my parents didn’t want to leave Ukraine, but we couldn’t stay in the war, so we moved to another city in the west of the country. where we felt safest”, says the boy. It was the town of Vinnytsia. There the family was able to rebuild again. The mother worked as a beautician in a shop where she did manicures and the father as a carpenter making furniture. The parents agree with a smile when her son translates the life that less than a week ago was taken from them again.
This past Thursday, the parents saw the same scenario again, the war they thought they had escaped had returned and they did not hesitate to pack their bags. “It has not cost us as much to take the step of leaving as the rest of the people, unlike them, We haven’t had a house for a long time, we don’t have anything. We already left our life in the Donbass eight years ago, we do not bring anything after our“, continues the son. At eight in the morning they left their country and, but also many relatives. For example, the grandparents, who still live in Donbass. The mother’s eyes are blurred with tears. “They can’t handle a journey like this, we try to talk to them every day, they’re fine at the moment”reassures the youngest son, Mykyta, 19. Neither are the parents of Maksym’s girlfriend, who decided to join the trip. “They have not been able to come with us because they have to take care of my grandparents: they cannot walk and they need them to take care of them. Hopefully this ends and everything returns to normal,” says the girl through the translator of the mobile phone . “Now we are his family”says the mother.
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They leave behind a four-day route, which began in Vinnytsia. “I think we were among the first to leave because, at eight in the morning, the road was very clear. Then the queues and retentions began, but like us there are many“, says Maksym. First they crossed through Moldavia, then they crossed Romania. From there they traveled through Hungary, Austria, Switzerland and France. “We have been making stops to eat and go to the bathroom, but we slept in the car,” says Maksym, clearly tired. SAIER workers have directed them to request accommodation through the Consulate, which should take them to the shelters that the Generalitat has set up. They also plan to request an interview with the police so that they accept their asylum application. And why? Barcelona, Spain it is the place in Europe that is farthest from Russia and of war. We suffer for our lives and this is the safest place for us“.