They were reluctant to leave, but that night a cruise missile flew over Boicenko’s home, rattling the windows. The next day, the whole city was in panic. On Saturday, while city residents were celebrating Orthodox Easter weekend, another two cruise missiles struck a residential neighborhood in Odesa, killing at least eight people, including a 3-month-old baby, according to Ukrainian officials.
Boicenko was in a race against time. He knew if he stayed in Ukraine, he and his sons would be drafted into the army. The next day, the Ukrainian government would issue a decree prohibiting military-age men from leaving the country.
A drive that would normally take one hour took nine. “It was faster walking than taking the car,” his wife, Nataliya, said.
By the time they made it to Moldova, they were among thousands of Ukrainians trying to find shelter. “We tried Booking.com an AirbnB. Zero,” Nataliya Boicenko said. “Everything was booked.”
Luckily, Boicenko had an uncle in Chisinau connected to the Baptist church. The family is part of a small Baptist community in Odesa, numbering about 5,000, that makes up one part of the diverse religious and ethnic communities that have made Odesa famous for centuries.
Thanks to the church, the family was able to find a comfortable house in a Moldovan suburb, which they share with other Ukrainian Baptist families.
There are questions over just how sustainable these arrangements will be.
Bea Ferenci, U.N. human rights adviser in Moldova, has said more than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees are looking to stay in the country, and about 8,000 refugees are in the Transnistria region, a pro-Russian breakaway state on Moldova’s eastern border.
But Ferenci said in a U.N. blog post that the Moldovan community’s support, some of which outpaced the government’s efforts, has been heartening.
“Right from the beginning of the refugee influx there was a great mobilization from the community to support refugees,” she said in the post. “Most of the support was based on volunteers, so it was really just Moldovans going there with food carts, clothes, offering transport, accommodation and more. The State certainly appreciated this mobilization, as they were setting up required infrastructure.”
Every refugee NBC News spoke to was from Odesa and waiting for the moment they could return to the port city.
“I want to go back to Odesa,” Stoliarik said, but as rescue workers dig through the rubble of the latest Russian missile strike in the city, an important strategic military prize for Russian President Vladimir Putin, its future security is in doubt.
“They will attack Odesa,” Stoliarik said. “I don’t know what to do.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
