Ukrainian military refugees, who had been waiting for days to enter Estonia at the border checkpoints in Pechory, made no progress towards their destination on Sunday, and the weather is getting colder.
“We haven’t moved an inch all day. There, closer to the gate, they say that one of our groups has left. [через границу]but if she’s gone then we should have come closer [к пограничному пункту]but we didn’t. We have children here. Information is not provided,” said a woman waiting to cross the border, writes Lõuna-Eesti Postimees.
Setomaa parish elder Raul Kudre said on Uudis+ that it is very cold outside – biting wind, rain, but the situation has not changed. “The only positive change is the fact that people from the Pskov-Caves Monastery are now offering food to those who are waiting. You can also buy food, and for a thousand rubles, children and women are offered the opportunity to spend the night. On the border itself, the situation is dire. Some kind of tent has been put up, toilets have appeared, but people are still forced to wait in line for three days, or even longer. The queue is said to be divided into two parts. In one of them – Ukrainians, in the other – all the rest. The Ukrainians themselves say that the attitude towards them on the Russian border is inhuman. They let up to 10 people per hour,” he said.
According to him, the Estonian border guards approximately confirm these data with their statistics: during the day, 200-300 citizens of Ukraine cross the border, plus all the rest. “The rest, at the same time, are passed faster. So far, the situation is such that there is no specific structure of assistance to those arriving in Estonia through these points. But in the coming days, it may appear and then the help of volunteers will be needed, ”Kudre said.
According to the statistics of the Police and Border Guard Department, in the period from September 26 to October 2, 3,491 citizens of Ukraine crossed the border in this region. Most are in transit.
The Russian opposition party Yabloko is raising money to help refugees stranded at the border, while volunteers deliver food and clothes to people.
“Among the hundreds of people waiting in a multi-day queue are children and elderly people who wait up to seven days to cross the border with Russia at the checkpoints of the Pechora, Sebezh and Pytalovsky regions in the open. The vast majority of them are citizens of Ukraine,” the party wrote on its Telegram channel.