'Please don't take my home away': Ukrainians to be uprooted from Cork base

More than 100 Ukrainians living in Green Glens in Millstreet will have to leave the facility by August 29, with one woman sharing details of the horrendous journey she undertook to get to Ireland.

Valeria Marchenko, who has lived in Green Glens Arena since 2022, said: “I have never met people as kind and generous as those in Ireland.

“We’re glad that we can contribute something in return. We pay our taxes, we work, and we’re proud to be part of this community,” Ms Marchenko said. 

“Please don’t take my home away.”

Heartbreaking

Fiona Corcoran, of the Greater Chernobyl Cause, said: “Providing them with imprecise information about their relocation, and imposing the heartbreaking limitation of not being allowed to take their pets with them, is completely wrong. 

"Their beloved animals offer essential emotional support in coping with trauma caused by death, occupation, war, and the experience of becoming a refugee, which is why people have risked their lives to save them.

“I can attest to the profound appreciation these people hold for Ireland and, more especially, for the Millstreet community that welcomed them with open arms.”

Many of the Ukrainians cannot find housing in the neighbourhood.

“Being uprooted again is an extra and needless strain for these families and children, who have already endured unfathomable anguish,” said Ms Corcoran.

War

Ms Marchenko said that when the war broke out, her husband was away for work, so she and her mother lived for two and a half months in a basement with 30 people, without power, gas, or internet.

“When we couldn’t cook over a fire, we ate snow. Food was given to the children first.”

She described having to bury her grandmother and recalled “one young man’s leg was torn off when he went out to get food. They tried to save him, they cut away the shrapnel with a kitchen knife and put a burning log or coal on the wound to cauterise it. But, sadly, he didn’t survive. He remained dead with us in the basement for another five days, until we could finally carry him out and bury him.

“During all this time, my husband didn’t know whether I was alive or not. Some people took money from him in exchange for false information. They even told him I had died.”

She walked 22km with her mother, cat, and dog, before travelling by military bus from Volodarsk to Taganrog, then to Lithuania, before she and her husband flew to Ireland. 

The Department of Justice has said the move is part of a reduction in accommodation due to a drop in the number of Ukrainians looking for refuge.