From VOA:
“Thousands Join Online Networks
to Help Ukrainians Fleeing War”
(A child from Ukraine rests in a
tent, part of a humanitarian center for refugees at the Moldovan-Ukrainian
border, in Palalanca, Moldova, Feb. 25, 2022. Thousands of Ukrainians are fleeing
from war by crossing their borders to the west in search of safety.)
Hours after Russian President
Vladimir Putin declared war in a pre-dawn Thursday televised address, social
media users living in countries near Ukraine began setting up online networks
to support refugees. By Friday evening, at least 100,000 people had signed up
to various groups on Facebook and other platforms, offering their homes, money
and carpools to Ukrainians escaping the Russian invasion. Tens of thousands of
Ukrainians, mostly women and children, crossed into Poland, Romania, Hungary
and Slovakia as of Friday as Russian missiles pounded the capital of Kyiv and
men of fighting age were told to remain.
Malgorzata Krentowska was one of
many Poles who joined a 3,500-member Facebook group, "Ukraine, I'm helping
you!," to advertise an unused apartment in southern Poland. "My
grandmother was born there in 1912, and my mother used to tell me Russian fairy
tales which I still remember fondly," she wrote. "If anyone would
like to stay there I can share the keys. There is cold running water and
electricity."
(A girl plays at a temporary
refugee shelter in Zahony, Hungary, near the Ukrainian border, Feb. 25, 2022.)
Another Facebook group, “Aid to
Ukraine,” has gained close to 104,000 members since it was set up by Polish
entrepreneur Marta Lisowska a day earlier. Lisowska told Reuters her mother's
death had prompted her to help people, and she soon hoped to welcome refugees
into her old flat in Gdansk, on the Baltic coast. Her friend Witold Wodzynski,
who helps manage the group along with his wife, Sylwia, said Ukrainians had
been positively surprised that so many Polish people wanted to help. “Host a
Sister,” a network that helps members accommodate one another for free, added
10,000 new members in the last week, according to the group's Facebook page, as
women from neighboring countries rushed to offer their homes. Meanwhile in
Poznan, a 700-member group called "Kejterski Patrol" offered help to
people fleeing with their dogs by temporarily housing and walking the animals.
^ Hungary, Slovakia, Poland,
Romania and Moldova were all occupied by the Soviets/Russians and so remember
how evil they are. It’s great to see them taking action even when places like Germany
(which was partly occupied by the Soviets/Russians) still want to be Allies
with Putin. ^
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