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- Over one million people are estimated to have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded it.
- A Ukrainian woman who fled to South Africa on Friday says it was unbearable to watch peaceful civilians and children dying in the war.
- Valentyna Nazarova, 68, was detained for five hours at Cape Town International Airport on Friday because she did not have a South African visa due to the turmoil in Ukraine.
Constant fear, flying missiles, sirens, and deaths of civilians - including innocent children are some of the realities a 68-year-old Ukrainian woman who fled to South Africa on Friday said she could not bear watching.
Since the Russian invasion started on 24 February, over one million people are estimated to have fled the country to neighbouring countries such as Poland, Romania, and Hungary.
Valentyna Nazarova, 68, is one of them, but she left the continent to seek refuge in South Africa.
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She landed at Cape Town International Airport around 15:00 on Friday after an 11-hour flight from Romania.
Nazarova fled the Ukrainian town of Rivne on 27 February, three days after the war started.
She knew it was really time to move when a missile hit the town's airport.
"After that, the air raid siren was on and off regularly. The command to get into shelter sounded on the radio constantly... unfortunately where I lived the underground shelter was very far away," she said.
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A good samaritan volunteered to drive her and other people to the western part of Ukraine to the city of Chernivtsy.
She said after a very long drive, due to roadblocks which caused delays of up seven hours, the group arrived very late at night.
Due to curfew, her friend could not pick her up from the station until the next morning, so she spent the night at a hospice.
The following morning, Nazarova finally got a lift to the Romanian border.
"The crossing of the border was not complicated because they have allowed passing by showing passport only. Hundreds of women and children crossed with us. On the Romanian side the volunteers were extremely helpful and kindly assisted everyone. Our friends from a Christian mission locally there helped with accommodations.”
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She described the situation in Ukraine as heartbreaking.
"It's a real battle of survival, tragic deaths of peaceful civilians, innocent children... The sound of flying missiles, constant sirens, terror, fear. Lost homes, destroyed cities and villages, hospitals, universities, schools, churches. All that is unbearable to see, but unfortunately it is today's reality of our beautiful peaceful Ukraine!
"I wish no person ever to go through any of this pain and turmoil," she added.
Nazarova is a retired engineer and bartering trading specialist.
Her journey was not smooth as when she arrived at the Cape Town International Airport on Friday, she was detained and interrogated for five hours because she did not have a South African visa due to turmoil in her country.
Medication
Her distraught South African-based daughter said her mom was treated like a criminal and was not even offered water to take her heart medication by SA immigration officials.
She said she has never experienced such cruelty, especially to an elderly person.
Nazarova described her long journey as "truly traumatic, unpleasant and very sad."
The businesswoman's daughter, who asked not to be named, said she had to explain to the immigration officials over and over that Nazarova could not return to her country to get a visa due to the conflict.
"Luckily I was there to help with the translation as her English is poor. My mother, nearly 70 years old, seeking asylum in SA was received here and treated almost like a criminal," she said.
She added that the officials spent almost five hours interrogating and interviewing her mother.
"She has a heart condition and needed to take medication, unfortunately not even water was offered to her in all that time. I was escorted to go outside by the migration police office in order to go buy her some water," she said.
Immigration officials issued her an asylum permit valid for five days.
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"On Wednesday we have to take her back to the airport for further paperwork to be done. Then we [will] know the next steps," the daughter said.
She added: "I understand that certain procedures have to be followed in order to get refugee status for anyone, that's the law. That is not a problem, but the problem is that the humanity and mere respect and consideration of the trauma is not in the procedures of our officials, that's the main point."
The department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) declined to comment saying the matter was the function of Home Affairs.
Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) spokesperson Gopolang Peme also referred questions to Home Affairs.
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