Midnight Reunion
Dazed and exhausted, Iryna’s family arrives at Przemysl train station.
Midnight Reunion: A woman waits at the train station in Przemysl, Poland. A small family group steps off the train and rushes inside. A teary reunion. This scene is played out hundreds of times a day in this border city, as the Ukrainian refugees arrive in wave after wave, in the best case met by a friend or family member. But this midnight reunion is different: The awaiting woman is a NATAN volunteer doctor who has spent her days providing medical care at a refugee intake center. The arriving family is her own: her parents, aged 75, her sister and two children, ages 2 and 4.
Dr. Iryna Beylin, is a native of Mykolayiv, who works as a pediatrician at Meuhedet Health Fund in Israel, having immigrated from Ukraine years ago. Last week Dr. Beylin joined a delegation from NATAN Worldwide Disaster Relief now deployed in Przemysl, Poland. Przemysl is on the border with Ukraine and now houses one of the largest refugee intake centers in the country.
Dr. Beylin had been trying for days to get her family out of Mykolayiv, a city under constant shelling. The family finally managed to escape on Monday, traveling by bus and train from their city to the Polish border. They arrived in Przemysl just before midnight.
The family decided to leave after the city was hit by several rocket barrages and the entire area was left without water supply, electricity, heating and internet. Houses that had been hit were left without windows or protection from the freezing winter temperatures. Leaving meant wrenching the family apart, since the sister’s husband had to stay behind in Mykolaiv.
The family boarded a bus in the early hours of the morning and set off, with bombs landing throughout the city as the rocket attacks continued. Just that morning about 13 people were killed and dozens more were injured, when a rocket struck a neighborhood supermarket.
The journey took about 26 hours, because most of the roads in the north of Ukraine are under the control of the Russian army or under fire. The group had to travel without stopping in order to make it to safety before dark. They took side roads and detours to skirt the most dangerous areas.
As they passed Zhitomir an alarm sounded, and explosions were heard from behind. They continued driving and reached the border with Poland safely at the Ustilug crossing point.
Refugees at a train station in Ukraine. Photo credit: Vincent Haiges/Avalon
Luckily, they did not have a long wait at the border crossing and from there they continued to Warsaw. Iryna and the NATAN team were in touch with the family all the time. They had tried to meet them at the border crossing point, but that was not possible due to distance and night hours. After getting off the bus in Warsaw the family bought train tickets and finally arrived at Przemysl at midnight. Seen here: the family at Przemysl train station a few moments after getting off the train.
Iryna reports that the children were silent most of the trip from the station. The two-year-old would not leave her mother’s arms. Now in Poland, they are still afraid of any noise. They cry a lot. They refuse to leave the hotel room, hiding under the beds when a stranger enters the room. Iryna says “my parents look lost. They’ve left everything behind. They are exhausted and sad.”
Iryna continued, “My sister's husband reports that the city is constantly being bombed, they have no electricity, water, heating in the houses. The only internet signal comes from a cellular company, and is unstable, disappearing all the time. Most of the day, everyone sits in shelters or places they believe will offer some protection from the constant bombing.
Mykolayiv is on the Black Sea in southern Ukraine. Before the invasion, Mykolayiv had a population of almost half a million people. Since the invasion Mykolaiv has become a symbol of resistance. First because of its successful defense of airports and airfields, and for the bravery of the local military commander and the local governor. Kherson, the bigger town on the east, is already occupied by Russian forces.
Building in Mykolayiv hit by a Russian missile on Monday.
Photo Credit...Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
This reunion was exciting and powerful not only for Iryna and her family, but also for all members of the NATAN delegation. The newly-arrived family is now staying with members of the delegation while they regroup and begin to recover from the trauma they have been through. Arrangements are now being made for them to emigrate to Israel.
Hours after the reunion, Dr. Beylin was back on duty in the first aid clinic – providing medical care to some of the thousands of Ukraine refugees arriving daily. Dr. Beylin says she is calmer now, having her family nearby. “Knowing my family is safe, I feel like I can function again,” Iryna said.
Dr Iryna Beylin with her family after their escape from Mykolayiv, Ukraine