Ukrainian Refugees︱Current Events
Fleeing East
By The Psalmist
When it comes to chaos, conflict, war, and persecution, there aren’t necessarily any constant patterns where you can predict the outcome, like with the weather or algebraic equations. We can make educated guesses and assumptions as to what’ll happen next, but otherwise, there is nothing else to do but act accordingly to what is happening in the present. But there are still some things you wouldn’t expect, even in the unpredictable. According to what we hear in the news, and simple and uneducated assumptions, we think all refugees will flee west towards Poland, France, Germany, but it would surprise you the amount of people fleeing east. To Russia. As I said, numbers vary, and statistics change but the overall amount of people that have gone there, sometimes in huge waves, and sometimes barely anyone. According to DW, from February 21st to the 23rd of 2022, there were a mere 271,254 people going to Russia, but according to BBC news, is 1,412642 people. An article in “The New Yorker”, published on August 25 of this year, talks about the why. Why would Ukrainians go to the country that attacked them? Why flee to the country that got them to flee in the first place? Let’s just make it clear, the Russian people didn’t strike war, the government did, and at a certain point, Ukraine WAS Russia. Ukrainians have families in Russia, which they could confide in in times of war like this. But some of them were forced to go or had no other options. Many buses traveled to Russia, a couple of days before the first attack. Many more arrived after war had broken out.
You might think the Ukrainians would feel hatred and anger towards the Russians, but truly, the people don’t get that say. They might agree and they might disagree, but they didn’t call the shots, and they are not the ones we should blame for anything. When it is not one’s war, one must keep an open and neutral mind. Both sides have a point, whether they are wrong or not. One can have opinions and take sides, but not show hatred towards the people. There are people in Russia who disagree with the war, others that agree, others that don’t have an opinion, and the same thing goes for Ukraine, USA, and every other country.