Solidarity with the Ukrainian people continues in the Centre-Val-de-Loire. More than two months after the first arrivals of refugees in Orléans, a twenty Ukrainians joined the region this Saturday evening from Krakow in Poland. Early May, around 750 Ukrainian refugees had already found refuge in the Loiret, after the Russian invasion in Ukraine, on February 24, 2022.
“I’m a little scared, it’s normal”
Xenia, 32, came with her five-year-old daughter and sister, with whom she ran a business in eastern Ukraine before the war began. “My village is practically occupied, the town just next to it is already occupied, and the Russian soldiers won’t let us do anything. So we had to flee to Poland at the end of March“, she explains. The three Ukrainians will be welcomed by Amandine and Fabien, near Tours (Indre-et-Loire). “We have to trust them, we have to get to know each other, I’m a little scared, it’s normal“, launches Xénia.
The Touraine family, for its part, had been waiting for this moment for a long time. “We offered ourselves on different platforms from the start of the conflict to welcome refugees and we were contacted at the beginning of the week. We made this choice, because we were affected by the situation, we projected ourselves and our situation allowed it“, enlightens Amandine.
– Thomas Vichard
Free REMI buses and trains for refugees
It’s the first coach chartered by the Region since the start of the war in Ukraine. “As soon as there is a large enough group, we said ‘we’re going, we won’t make them wait any longer’, things have been stopped for a little over a week“, explains François Bonneau, the president of the Region.
Some host families were already there this Saturday to take in one or more refugees, the others will be temporarily housed for a few days in accommodation made available by the Region. Some will even be able to stay in the long term in vacant staff accommodation in high schools.
Also made available for these Ukrainians arriving in France from the free REMI transport (buses, trains)”so that these people can carry out administrative procedures” specifies François Bonneau. Ukrainian children and adolescents will have access to schools to continue their education there. “We are also committed to helping them to leave, when the time comes, as soon as there is a little less tension and danger in their country.“, says the president of the Region.