Palanca is a small village, the southernmost in Moldova. Odessa is a little more than 50 kilometers from here. Since the morning, there have been reports in the media about many kilometers of traffic jams - people are fleeing the war. Someone with one backpack, others in cars packed to capacity. In the morning it became known that men aged 18 to 60 cannot leave Ukraine - they are liable for military service and must remain in Ukraine. Therefore, men accompany their families to the border, and return back to the war. A few kilometers from the border, the authorities of the Republic of Moldova opened a refugee camp - a tent city in a rural school stadium, where an influx of refugees is expected in the coming hours. The camp can accommodate about 500 people.
So far, most of the people from Ukraine - wealthy people who travel through Moldova in transit - want to get to Europe through Romania. Probably, in a couple of days, there will be other refugees - those who reached the border on foot, without money and without a way back.
It is too early to judge how the Moldovan society treats refugees – everything is happening very quickly, no one was ready for this, but commercial companies and the state are trying to provide all possible assistance to refugees. For example, wineries offer a roof over their heads and food, and the state makes it as easy as possible to enter the country. It is also known that the civil society is trying to somehow help - people together find housing for refugees, help with information and orientation in a new country for them.
A Romanian version of this article is available here.
