A refugee from East Ukraine at a humanitarian aid centre in. Kyiv, Ukraine. Nikita Yurenev/Demotix. All rights reserved.Across the world people are concerned by the current European refugee crisis, however there are thousands of Ukrainians who have fled war in their own country and are now living as refugees on the borders of Eastern Europe. Their destinies remain overlooked and unknown.
The very Western parts of Ukraine have become home to several thousand refugees who have fled the armed conflict in Donbas; some of them are now living no further than two kilometres from the EU border. They have fled the war, traveled thousands of kilometres, lost their loved ones and risked their lives so that they can get closer to European borders. Unlike those who have crossed the Mediterranean Sea, however, Ukrainian refugees know that entering Europe is impossible for them - no matter how close it may be.
“I would like to go and visit my family in the East of Ukraine”, confesses Misha, a refugee who has been on the run with his wife and three children for more than a year, “but my priest wouldn't let me go. He says I am going to get killed straight away”.
