Fianna Fáil Politicians in Ukraine: Refugees walk up to 15 km to the border

According to two Irish politicians, refugees from Ukraine walk up to 15km to the border and then join 2km long queues.

ianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher and Senator Timmy Dooley today visited Lviv, Ukraine.

They are the first Irish politicians to visit the country since the Russian invasion.

The couple met the mayor of Lviv, the governor of the region and members of the Ukrainian parliament. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s party has joined

Mr Dooley and said they want more help from Europe.

Mr Dooley said: “There’s probably a 20km traffic jam of cars. I would say there are people in line of maybe 5km. It’s dark, it’s getting dark now. You won’t get through until morning at the earliest. People line up back there for two days. Processing is very slow, this needs to be addressed. This has to be tackled at European level.”

Mr Kelleher said he saw a father drop his child off at the border and say goodbye.

The pair received a briefing on the war, including devastation in the besieged town of Mariopol on the south coast.

Mr Kelleher said Ukrainian politicians wanted humanitarian corridors.

“The other issues we need to address are that the European Union is supporting Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and the countries bordering Ukraine because they will need a lot of support to deal with the refugees and evacuees, coming over the border.” he said.

Mr Kelleher said Ireland must play its role in welcoming refugees and providing aid.

“Ireland will not be missing,” he added.