Blinken Hears Harrowing Tales From Refugees Fleeing Ukraine

Korczowa, Poland — 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday visited a welcome center set up by Polish authorities in what once was a shopping mall in Korczowa, close to the border with Ukraine, where roughly 3,000 refugees are taking shelter after the Russian invasion of their homeland.

While at the border later, Blinken stepped briefly onto Ukrainian soil to meet Foreign Minister Dymtro Kuleba, who predicted Russia would be defeated but appealed for more military assistance to lower the cost in lives that he said victory will require.

At the refugee center, America’s top diplomat heard harrowing tales from mothers and their children who described long and perilous journeys — and the shock of the sudden disruption and the fear for their lives — after fleeing the devastation of the war.

“Near our home we heard bombs,” said Venera Ahmadi, 12, who said she came with her brother and sister, six dogs and seven cats from Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, more than 600 kilometers (372 miles) away. “We walked to the border, I don’t know how many hours. We crossed the border on foot.”

Her 16-year-old sister, Jasmine, said: “I was scared I would die.”

Natalia Kadygrob, 48, reached the center with her four adopted children from Kropyvnytskyi, almost 800 kilometers (about 500 miles) by bus on their way to her brother’s home in Germany. Her husband stayed behind.

“There they bombed planes at the airport,” she said. “Of course we were afraid.”

Tatyana, 58, who wouldn’t give her last name, came with her daughter, Anna, 37, and her 6- and 1-year-old daughters, Katya and Kira, from Kharkiv, about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) away. “They were shooting on the street,” Tatyana said. Anna said her home had been destroyed by a shell or a rocket.

She was in the basement with her daughters when the explosion happened. “They should be in school,” Anna said. “They are children, they don’t understand.”

Blinken then met with Kuleba on a visit to the Korczowa border crossing where Polish authorities escorted small groups of refugees — about 20 at a time — across the frontier from the Ukrainian town of Krakovets as sporadic snow flakes fell from a gray sky.

Groups mainly of women, children and elderly men — grimly rolling their possessions in luggage and carrying infants and the occasional family pet — made their way into makeshift processing centers set up in tents on Polish territory.

The foreign minister said he wanted to convey a simple message: “Ukraine will win this war because this is the people’s war for their land and we defend the right course.” He added, “The question is the price, the price of our victory.”

Kubela said that if Ukraine’s allies “continue to take bold, systemic decisions to step up economic and political pressure on (Russia), if they continue to provide us with necessary weapons, the price will be lower” and “this will save many lives in Ukraine.”

Blinken praised Kuleba, President Volodmyr Zelenskyy and other officials for their courage and “inspiring” leadership during the crisis. He said support for Ukraine and pressure on Russia to end the war would increase “until this war of choice is brought to an end.”

Kuleba thanked Blinken for the support so far but said Ukraine needed even more if his country’s predicted victory was not to come at too high a cost. He lamented that NATO on Friday had rejected appeals from nonmember Ukraine and others to set up a no-fly zone over the country.

“We are now in the phase where maybe saying ‘No, we’re not going to do that’, but the time will come,” Kuleba said. “It’s again the issue of price. It is the people of Ukraine who will pay the price for the reluctance of NATO to act.”

Blinken earlier was in the city of Rzeszow for talks with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau a day after attending a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels. The alliance pledged to step up support for eastern flank members such as Poland to counter the Russian invasion. Poland is seeking more U.S. forces on its territory, where there are currently more than 10,000 American troops.

Rau said Poland had already taken in more than 700,000 refugees from Ukraine and that he expected hundreds of thousands more in the coming weeks unless Russia backs down.

“Poland will never recognize territorial changes brought about by unprovoked, unlawful aggression,” he said, adding that his country will demand that alleged Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine will be prosecuted.

Morawiecki and Blinken discussed stepping up sanctions and freezes of assets on Russia, which Morawiecki said should be “crushing” for Russia’s economy. No Russian banks should be exempted from the exclusions from the SWIFT system, he said. Currently, all but the largest Russian banks have been kicked off the financial messaging service.

Afghan Refugees Navigate Legal, Cultural Challenges in Unfamiliar Land

The man dubbed a leader of newly arriving Afghan refugees in Wausau, Wisconsin, was profiled in the local media as a U.S. ally and someone who had been persecuted by the Taliban in Afghanistan. He had plans to open a restaurant to give his new community a taste of Afghan cuisine.

But less than two months after settling into a rented apartment with his wife and six children, the refugee was arrested on charges of sexual assault in the fourth degree.

The unidentified victim, according to Wausau police department, was a woman who was helping the family’s resettlement.

Although he has been released on a signature bond, the 40-year-old has not spoken about the criminal charge against him and did not respond to VOA questions. As with all defendants in U.S. courts, he is presumed innocent until convicted.

Tens of thousands of Afghans have been evacuated to the U.S. since the collapse of the U.S.-backed Afghan government last August because of fears they could be targeted by the Taliban.

Aid agencies say many of the newly arrived refugees face primarily housing and employment challenges as they resettle in communities across the U.S.

Some also experience cultural shock as they navigate through the intricacies of life in America.

“[We are] aware that there are cases of Afghan evacuees allegedly committing acts of interpersonal violence,” Emily Gilkinson told VOA. She is a spokeswoman for the Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC), which has helped the resettlement of some 6,000 Afghan refugees in Wisconsin and other states.

Three aid agencies involved in the resettlement of Afghan refugees in the U.S. said they have no records of such incidents. VOA found public reports of four Afghan refugees allegedly arrested on violence and sexual assault charges since September 2021.

Mohammad Attaie and his wife Deena, newly arrived from Afghanistan, get assistance from medical translator Jahannaz Afshar making a doctor’s appointment at the Valley Health Center TB/Refugee Program in San Jose, California on Dec. 9, 2021.

Cultural education

Resettlement programs are funded by the U.S. government and one key requirement is cultural orientation.

“We provide robust cultural orientation classes to newly arrived refugees,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS).

Classes take 30 to 60 minutes and deal with health care, employment, personal finance, transportation, safety, education and other topics.

“The curriculum and process of delivering cultural orientation is something that ECDC continues to improve in order to better prepare newcomers for success in American society,” said Gilkinson.

One Afghan refugee in Wisconsin who asked to remain anonymous said his cultural orientation classes were short and mostly dealt with hypothetical situations.

“I think practical learning can be more important. Some of us will need cultural advising even after we settle in our new homes,” he said.

Resettlement agencies say they will continue to assist refugees in finding jobs and learning the necessary skills and knowledge to thrive in their new life in the U.S.

FILE – Afghan refugees walk alongside temporary housing in Liberty Village on Joint Base McGuire-Dix- Lakehurst in Trenton, N.J., Dec. 2, 2021.

Hate crimes

Refugees and aid agencies applaud what they call a generous influx of support for the newly arrived Afghans from individuals and groups all over the country.

“I’ve never seen as generous and kind people as the Americans,” said Attaullah Rahmani, an Afghan refugee.

But the Afghan refugees are arriving in the U.S. at a time when the FBI is reporting a surge of racially inspired hate crimes, especially against people of Asian origin.

Although there is no aggregated data about instances of hate crimes involving Afghan refugees, there are isolated reports.

In late January, the FBI started investigating an alleged hate crime incident involving two Afghan refugees in Owensboro, Kentucky, local media reported.

In another incident, stickers with the message “Afghan refugee hunting permit” were seen at a university campus in Michigan last year.

Two refugees who spent about two months at Ford Dix in New Jersey as their resettlement cases were processed said they received lectures on racial and religious sensitivities in the U.S.

“They showed us signs which represent white supremacy and said we should avoid those people,” Ahmad Mohib, one of the refugees told VOA.

FILE – Afghan refugees board a bus taking them to a processing center upon their arrival at Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, Sept. 1, 2021.

Domestic violence

Isolated incidents of domestic violence were first reported in refugee processing centers at U.S. military bases.

Afghanistan ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which prohibits and criminalizes gender-based violence, in 2003. In 2009, Afghanistan also enacted a law on elimination of violence against women. However, human rights organization say violence against Afghan women remains prevalent and the Afghan justice system often fails female victims.

“Domestic violence happens in every community,” said Naheed Samadi Bahram, U.S. director for Women for Afghan Women, a nongovernmental organization advocating for the rights of Afghan women and girls. She told VOA that interpersonal relations among the refugees are particularly strained because of the traumas they have experienced.

Other resettlement agencies have also tracked extreme stress and trauma among the Afghan refugees.

“The impact of losing the only home you’ve ever known, of leaving family behind, cannot be overstated,” said LIRS’s Vignarajah.

Bahram said her organization has offered awareness to some refugees about the consequences of domestic violence here in the U.S., which is different than how it’s dealt with in Afghanistan.

“Our main problem is language,” said Tamana Kohistani, who resettled in Virginia with her husband and three children in December. “Not knowing English here is like we don’t know anything and we can’t say anything as well.”

New Afghan Refugees in California Face Difficult Rental Market

One of the challenges that new Afghan refugees in California face is a tough rental market. Many are staying in temporary housing for weeks at a time. For VOA, Breshna Tahrik has more from San Diego, California.

Afghan Refugees Get Technology to Easier Adapt to Life in US

U.S. businesses and Asian Americans are stepping up to help Afghan refugees adjust to life in the U.S. with technology training and tools. One resettlement effort that began at a military base in Indiana has spread throughout the United States. VOA’s Jessica Stone has the story.