Ukraine teen escapes in car boot

Misha Gabunia refuses to say exactly just how much it cost him to be smuggled in the boot of a car across battle lines from Ukraine into Russia, from where he escaped into Turkey and eventually Ireland, suffice to say “it was a lot”.

Just two weeks later he learned the same trip would have cost him at least double, if not treble what he had paid.

With Russia’s invasion focusing its assault along Ukraine’s eastern front, an escape such as Misha’s is now deemed impossible to all but the most desperate.

At the time the 19-year-old was in his second year studying at university in the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, located in the disputed Donetsk Oblast area. But after war broke out in late February he found himself trapped by the pressing of Russian forces.

Misha considered escaping via humanitarian channels established along the Polish border too risky with widespread reports of civilian refugees coming under attack despite agreements signalling safe passage.

His mother Luisa and little sister Sophia had already arrived in Ireland, relying on the kindness of close family friends Viktoria Frolova and Olegs Cirkuns, who have been living in Belturbet for several years. A determined Misha sought to join them by any means possible.

“With somebody who was allowed to cross the frontier,” Misha explains to The Anglo-Celt, with Olegs acting as interpreter for some of the conversation.

“He doesn’t want to say how much he paid,” says Olegs when the question is put to Misha.

Misha adds: “It was a lot. For a Ukrainian. Sorry I can’t say.”

It was the second time Misha had to leave Donetsk due to war. He had lived with his family in Donetsk prior to the 2014 conflict between Ukrainian military and Russian-backed separatist rebels. The low-level fighting forced them to flee to Odessa.

Misha is of two-minds about referring to the person who helped him leave Ukraine as a potential people-trafficker.

“I consider him a good man because he helped me. He took the money, but it was a big favour really. He took the risk. I had only one escape. No other choice, because the Russia military was destroying Ukraine from Mariupol. It was a war zone, but still someone could take you in a car boot and if you are lucky, get out.”

Misha spent several heart-stopping hours in the boot of that car before seeing daylight again, this time on the eastern side of the Russian border. Despite the inherent danger at hand, not to mention the risk of being caught and what might happen if he was, Misha’s thoughts were dominated by the firm belief he would soon join his family again here in Ireland.

After escaping Ukraine, Misha travelled next to Turkey and finally Ireland, arriving April 4.

Scared

His mum Luisa admits she was fearful every day right up to the point she was reunited with her son at the arrival gates at Dublin airport. It was an emotional moment.

“I was scared, so scared,” says Luisa. But she’s happy now that Misha is safe, while her daughter Sophia has already begun school at the local secondary, St Bricin’s.

Misha still has friends stranded in Ukraine. He knows some who have attempted to get out the same route he did. “Many friends in Ukraine, in Donetsk. Now they can’t [get out], it costs too, too, too much.

“It has become complicated. If someone could do this, no one would now, it is too dangerous now.”

This week seven people were killed and 11 more injured in four Russian strikes in Lviv, a western city largely spared from attacks seen elsewhere in Ukraine. It is estimated that close to 50,000 people have been killed in this war to date, with more than 11 million people displaced.

Last week saw more refugees arrive in Cavan, in Blacklion, Bawnboy and other areas where accommodation can be found.

Hostilities

Arigna and Sergee escaped Ukraine with their six-year-old daughter Christina. The Krachenko’s travelled from Odessa and arrived in Ireland towards the end of March, entering the IPAS system and were assigned a room at the Ceggan Court Hotel in Athlone, before being offered accommodation in Belturbet.

They arrived in Ireland through Turkey, via Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria. “It was a very long trip,” says Arigna.

Sergee had managed an expeditions company in Odessa before the war, and the family had lived in an apartment block situated close to both the busy city post and a military college. Both sites were immediate targets during the Russian invasion, and the Krachenko’s left Odessa a month before war officially broke out as hostilities nearby heightened.

“The shooting and explosions were so close,” says Sergee. “We lived on the fifteenth floor and we left at midnight, when the [air-raid] sirens came, and we had to go downstairs in the dark.”

Such was the situation that there was no way of hiding the realities of what was happening from their six-year-old daughter. “She knows, she knows the war is bad.”

Her parents hope she can regain some of her childhood innocence, and see her enrolment at the local school, where she has already settled in and is making friends, as a crucial first step in that regard. From behind her dad Christina gives a little grin.

“She’s very brave, still smiling. She’s not afraid, not now.”

Safe place

The Krachenko’s did not know when they applied for refugee status where they would be sent, but are happy and thankful to have landed in Ireland.

“All we hoped for was a safe place,” says Arigna. “Now we are very appreciative to the Irish people, the government, to give us this opportunity.”

Still, the Krachenko family hope to return to Ukraine one day. They have grandparents, one of whom lived through the Second World War already, but are thus far refusing to leave their home area despite the constant threat of bombardment.

Left behind too are family pets - two dogs and a horse.

“Maybe not so safe but they don’t want to leave,” the Krachenko’s say of their relatives. “92 years old, my grandmother, she doesn’t want to move. She’s been through one war already.”

For Olegs Cirkuns, who together with artist wife Viktoria Frolova, it is “important” to welcome the Ukrainian arrivals to Ireland with open arms.

“Odessa is a big city, it somehow came that there are now three families from the same place now living in Belturbet. We do what we can to help,” says Olegs. “We have to help. Some people leaving Ukraine have are arriving here with nothing.”