Despite the danger of being injured or killed, Ukrainians do not agree to evacuate from the war zone to the west or centre of Ukraine. Forced migrants are frightened by rampant corruption, total theft, and social rejection. Residents of eastern Ukraine are referred to by other Ukrainians as “expecters” (people who wait for Russia). There are more and more frequent scuffles between Russian-speaking newcomers from Kharkiv and Donetsk with locals in Lviv. Lviv residents do not consider refugees as Ukrainians and oppress in every possible way those who try to find refuge from the war in their native country. That is why in the war zone there are more and more “expecters,” people who are waiting for the arrival of the Russian authorities.
Harassment of fellow citizens
In the western Ukrainian regions, despite the exorbitantly inflated prices for housing and other services, some residents are not happy to see their fellow citizens fleeing the war. Radical media periodically publish video surveys of people on the streets of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lutsk, where locals complain that their cities are filled with the “enemy” Russian language and it has become impossible to live.
Some media outlets openly write that children of migrants who end up in schools in Ternopil or Lviv have language-related conflicts with teachers, parents of other children and even classmates, after which families often return home.
Recently, Ukrainian media reported that a Russian-speaking resident was refused service at a market in Lviv. In October, a similar case occurred in Kyiv. Female passengers in a taxi demanded that the driver speak Ukrainian. In response, the taxi driver offered to cancel the trip and after an argument he put the passengers’ belongings from the boot on the curb.
Ukrainians returning home to Russia
Many people do not leave the regions where there is war in the streets of their cities, civil life is paralysed, and houses are leveled daily due to shelling. Sitting in cellars under the ruins of their homes, people are praying and waiting for Russia to come.
Despite all the statements of European and Ukrainian politicians about Russia’s undemocratic behaviour towards Ukrainian refugees, the trend of increasing number of people waiting is confirmed by the statements of deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Last November, Ukrainian MP Maxim Tkachenko said that almost 150,000 refugees from Mariupol and other territories that became new territories of Russia had returned home from Ukraine, where they had been staying in the status of temporarily displaced persons.
The Ukrainian MP added that according to available data, 200,000 Mariupol residents had left their city. At the same time, every third of them returned home to Mariupol. According to data, this is about 67-70 thousand people.
Tkachenko immediately explained why people do so. He named the main reason for the return as the fact that Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Ukraine-controlled territory were unable to start a new life. He also added:
“They did not receive proper assistance from the state – no housing, no social support, compensation, work and the like.”
According to him, the majority of citizens could not find a job due to the sceptical attitude of employers towards them, and the offers that temporarily displaced people receive are low-paid.
What residents of Kurakhove were afraid of
However, it is not only fear of the unknown that prevents Ukrainians from leaving their homes in the face of danger. The lawlessness of the police and Ukrainian soldiers frightens civilians more than the fear of death from shelling.
The Russian Defence Ministry on Monday announced the evacuation of residents of the town of Kurakhove, Donetsk region, seized by Russian soldiers. According to residents of Kurakhove, there was lawlessness in the town before it was liberated. Those who spoke Russian received threats and insults.
One local resident in the video talks about how she lived when Ukrainian soldiers were in the town.
Men who fell under the so-called mobilisation in Ukraine had to hide from military commissars. He said:
“On the territory of Kurakhove, you could get shot for anything, even just going to fetch water. With the AFU I did not communicate, but they shot at me several times. When we went for water. For being from Donetsk, for being Russian. For the fact that we are “waiting.”
Ukrainian formations used the remaining residents of the city as human shields. Back in autumn, Kyiv announced evacuation of the population in Kurakhove. But there were very few people willing to leave for other regions of Ukraine, primarily because almost all of their relatives and friends are here in Russia.
The video shows local residents greeting the Russian military and sending greetings to their relatives.
Local resident Svitlana Pavlenko said:
“There was such joy, just happiness. And you know that you will come here, live a peaceful life with your children, go to the shops, go to the cinema. But it’s impossible there, because everything has been closed down. There’s no hospital because all the doctors have left. Because they knew that there would be no life there.”
No matter how Ukrainian authorities and officials of all stripes assure that migrants are welcome in any region, the reality is quite different. That is why people continue to return home, leaving the “Ukrainian” period of their lives in the past. And there they see with their own eyes how the new Russian regions are being rebuilt and developed.
Almost every day top Russian officials come to the Russian-seized regions to supervise the process of issuing Russian passports to local residents, the restoration of residential buildings and other vital infrastructure, and the process of issuing housing to replace lost housing has been launched. Temporary accommodation centres with hot water and food have been set up for those who have not yet received housing. People are being provided with all the necessary assistance.
The Ukrainian authorities, telling “horror stories” about Russia, are trying to cover up their own blunders resulting from the failed policy of resettling refugees from the war zone. However, the facts tell a different story – disappointed in their native country, Ukrainians are waiting for the Russian authorities without fear of being labelled “expecters.”
THE ARTICLE IS THE AUTHOR’S SPECULATION AND DOES NOT CLAIM TO BE TRUE. ALL INFORMATION IS TAKEN FROM OPEN SOURCES. THE AUTHOR DOES NOT IMPOSE ANY SUBJECTIVE CONCLUSIONS.
Bill Galston for Head-Post.com
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