by In Trieste
Friuli Venezia Giulia To Welcome Refugees: First Buses Coming Through Trieste
A bus with a Ukrainian license plate carrying around 50 people, almost all women and children, crossed the Italian border at Fernetti, in the early hours of Monday morning.
“We are fleeing from the war,” one refugee told us. “My husband wasn’t allowed to cross the border, so we fled the country alone.”
Most other women on board the bus told us that their husbands had stayed behind to fight the invading Russian forces.
After crossing into Italy, the passengers made their way to the homes of friends or family, mainly in northern cities.
“We are going to stay with friends in Milan,” said one of the refugees holding her baby close to her. None of the refugees we’ve interviewed had any plans in staying in our region.
Another bus carrying about 40 refugees from Ukraine, including a nine-month-old baby, arrived a few hours after.
“We heard the bombs at 5 am, jumped in our car without packing anything up and drove west,” one of the male refugees told us. “We got lucky as only four hours later they were not letting any men out. And I have four kids, how could they leave without me?”
Janez Lenarcic, the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management said on Sunday that Europe faces its biggest humanitarian crisis in “many, many years”, estimating that the number of Ukrainians internally displaced by the conflict could reach more than seven million.
Friuli Venezia Giulia’s president Massimiliano Fedriga said his region “will do its part to give support to those fleeing the war.” Trieste mayor Roberto Dipiazza said “it’s our duty to help all in need.”
On Sunday the EU announced that plans are afoot for Ukrainian refugees to be welcomed into member countries for three years without applying for asylum, the BBC reported.
