While Refugees Seek Safety, Many Determined Ukrainians Return To Save The Country From Invaders

On Sunday, Ukraine's border with Poland had multiple queues. Tens of thousands of refugees could be seen trying to leave Ukraine. Ever since Russia has attacked Ukraine, more than 1,56,000 people have crossed into Poland, the border guards of the country said on Sunday.

At same border, many Ukrainians were seen returning to the war-struck country too with the unmissbale fervour to fight for their homeland. Both men and women are returning home from across Europe to help defend their country.

At the checkpoint in Medyka, in southeastern Poland, many were standing in a line early Sunday to cross into Ukraine.

Agencies

"Have to defend our homeland"

※We have to defend our homeland. Who else if not us,§ said a man in front of a group of some 20 Ukrainian truck drivers walking to the checkpoint to enter Ukraine. They came from across Europe to return to Ukraine. They spoke to The Associated Press in Ukrainian and in Russian.

Another man in the group said: ※The Russians should be afraid. We are not afraid.§ Members of the group declined to give their names, or only gave their first names, citing the security of their families.

A woman in her 30s who gave her first name, Lesa, spoke to the AP just before entering the checkpoint building. ※I am afraid, but I am a mother and want to be with my children. What can you do? It＊s scary but I have to.§

AP

Another young woman said she, too, was returning to take care of her children, so that Ukrainian men can defend the country. ※We have to, we Ukrainians have to take our children away ... to allow our boys to fight,§ she said.

Ukranian refugee crisis

Poland's border guards on Sunday said more than 156,000 people had crossed into the European Union member from Ukraine in the days since Russia invaded the ex-Soviet country.

The latest figure represented an increase of tens of thousands on what was reported Saturday, showing just how quickly Ukrainian refugees are flowing into their western neighbor.

AFP

"Since the start of the hostilities in Ukraine on February 24, border guard officers processed a total of 187,800 people at all the crossings with Ukraine," Poland's border guards tweeted. That number also included those who had left Poland for Ukraine, but the vast majority, or more than 156,000, were people fleeing Ukraine, they said.

"Yesterday alone, a record number of people were processed... including 77,300 into Poland" from Ukraine," they added.

Poland, which was already home to an estimated 1.5 million Ukrainians before Russia's invasion Thursday and which has expressed steadfast support for Ukraine, has so far seen the bulk of those fleeing Ukraine cross into its territory.

Twitter

But thousands of others have fled to fellow Ukraine neighbors Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia and Romania.

Ukraine takes Russia to international court

Meanwhile, Ukraine has lodged a complaint against Russia at the International Court of Justice in The Hague to get it to halt its invasion, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday.

"Russia must be held accountable for manipulating the notion of genocide to justify aggression," Zelensky declared in a tweet. "We request an urgent decision ordering Russia to cease military activity now and expect trials to start next week," he said.

Ukraine has submitted its application against Russia to the ICJ. Russia must be held accountable for manipulating the notion of genocide to justify aggression. We request an urgent decision ordering Russia to cease military activity now and expect trials to start next week.

〞 圾抉抖抉忱我技我把 妝快抖快扶扼抆抗我抄 (@ZelenskyyUa) February 27, 2022

The ICJ, which is based in the Netherlands capital The Hague, does not have a mandate to bring criminal charges against individual Russian leaders behind the four-day-old invasion.

But it is the world's top court for resolving legal complaints between states over alleged breaches of international law. It is the supreme judicial institution of the United Nations.

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