Ukrainian refugees have finally arrived in Dijon

“It’s a small miracle, we can’t save everyone, but these three women and the child are already a lot. Nataliia Diedova, a 31-year-old Ukrainian living in Épagny, does not hide her emotion. She accompanies three Ukrainian refugees who were to arrive Friday afternoon, around 4 p.m. But due to lack of space on the trains from Paris, Alina (34), her sister Kateryna (26) and her 7-month-old child Nina, as well as their cousin Victoriia (20), arrived around 10:30 p.m. from Paris Bercy.

Refugees from Kharkiv

They all come from the Kharkiv region, massively bombarded by the Russians, and arrive in Dijon as part of the solidarity convoy organized last week by the Côte-d’Orien Nicolas Chambade. Nataliia Diedova knows them well: Alina is the wife of his best friend.

This Saturday, after a night’s sleep in an apartment specially fitted out for them in the Montchapet district, we should be able to interview them.

The other realization of a solidarity convoy followed since the end of last week

This arrival is part of the solidarity convoy that our photojournalist Emma Buoncristiani followed at the end of last week. As a reminder, Thursday, March 3, early in the morning, three vehicles left Fontaine-lès-Dijon towards the border between Poland and Ukraine. The objective: to provide food to the refugees and bring back twelve people when they return. At the initiative of this convoy, Nicolas Chambade, 46, a dental surgeon, who had taken five other Côte-d’Oriens. If food had been distributed in a collection center, no refugee had immediately been able to return with this solidarity convoy which covered, in all, nearly 3,600 km on the road. Wednesday, when the arrival of the three Ukrainian refugees and a 7-month-old baby was announced, the Côte-d’Oriens who made this operation possible did not hide their “emotion”, like Nicolas Chambade .

The initiative of these Côte-d’Oriens is part of the many other solidarities that exist locally to help Ukrainians.

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