Escaping Bullets And Bombs To Get To Mackay

It took Liudmyla Prymakova one whole week to flee from war-torn Ukraine to the Mackay heat.

The 74-year-old Ukrainian woman braved streets under attack, crowded trains, and a sense of dread and uncertainty to arrive at her daughter’s North Mackay apartment earlier in the month.

“No one was expecting such a massive attack on the heart of the city,” she said, translated to English by her daughter, Alla Long.

Ms Prymakova says that Russia started by bombing military objects, but when they started shooting civilians, panic really set in.

People were hiding in underground bomb shelters, everyone trying to save their children from the attacks.

Women moved towards train stations with their children intending on fleeing to neighbouring countries like Poland and Romania; men stayed, conscripted to join the resistance against the Russian invasion.

Ms Prymakova’s niece, who has a 4-year-old daughter, called her to tell her they were going to the train station and urged her to join them.

Living 20 minutes from the train station, Ms Prymakova walked through streets of chaos to get there.

The station was crowded with women and children, barely leaving space to move.

The crowd gathered on platform one waiting for the next train, but due to a bombing outside the station, the train was now expected at platform four.

People dropped their bags and scurried for their lives towards the platform, hoping to squeeze onto one of the packed carriages.

A guard picked up Ms Prymakova’s niece’s daughter and guided them all onto a train destined for Lviv in the country’s east.

What was normally a 12-hour train trip from Kharkiv to Lviv became a 21-hour trip as the train would slow down in areas of conflict, people pulling down blinds to not draw attention.

“All of this time, I couldn’t sleep,” said Ms Long. “I’ve been checking the news all of this time, ‘has any train been bombed?’”

When the train arrived in Lviv, Ms Prymakova’s relatives opted to stay as they had a son there, but she had eyes for Poland.

She sat on another train to Poland, with no idea which city it was destined for.

Thankfully, this train was comfier and had food and water for passengers.

The train reached a Polish town that Ms Long compared to Mackay in size where Ms Prymakova stayed in a motel and considered staying as a refugee.

But when Russian troops started shooting a nuclear station in Poland Ms Long and her sister, who resides in Canada, decided it wasn’t safe for their mother.

Having visited five years ago, Ms Prymakova already had an Australian Visa.

She got a bus to Kraków and then a plane to Mackay via Brisbane.

“The whole trip for my mum took one week.”

Ms Long says some of her friends and family are finding refuge in Romania, Germany, Denmark, Poland, and Australia, but others who remain in Ukraine whose houses have been destroyed are finding it difficult to seek safe shelter due to a lack of public transport and unsafe conditions to travel.

“I’m still so worried when I talk to my friends,” she said. “I could hear bombing in the background, I could see videos and photos.”

For now, she focuses on the indescribable feeling of relief, the feeling of having her Mum safely in her arms after weeks of not eating or sleeping with worry.

“I can’t even explain it. I’ve never had these feelings before.”

Ms Long says her mother has been settling into Mackay life well.

“The first night, she woke up the next morning and said, ‘there’s birds chirping’.”

Having been here for three months five years ago, Ms Prymakova knew what to expect in terms of climate.

Ms Prymakova will be taking part in English lessons in Mackay as well as joining a group of migrant women who meet for coffee every week and share their experiences, hoping to gain some independence in her new city.

“She needs to start speaking English and having a social life,” she said.

After hearing their story, many Mackay locals have come to the aid of the mother and daughter, offering their assistance, including members of the Ukrainian community of Mackay.

Ms Prymakova will remain in Mackay for the foreseeable future but they are waiting on a decision from the government on whether Ukrainian refugees will be offered assistance in obtaining Visas.

“If not, I don’t know,” she said.

“If not, I have to be her sponsor forever, so she will never have a Medicare card or anything.

“It’s going to be quite hard but it’s better for me than knowing my Mum lives somewhere where she may die in five minutes.”

Alla Long can’t explain the relief she felt having her mother safely in her arms after fleeing from Ukraine

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