From Ukraine to Moldova: Escaping the bombs in Mykolayiv and heading west

12/03/2022

Ukraine

Moldova

Ukrainian refugees awaiting to board buses at Palanca departure dispatch point. Moldova, 10 March 2022. © Maxime Fossat

Those arriving in Palanca are mainly from Mykolayiv, a blockaded town 130 kilometres east of Odessa, and a target of intense bombing. Entire families - mainly women, children and the elderly - often wait several hours in sub-zero temperatures and wind before being allowed to cross the border. Volunteers welcome them with tea and food, and some tents to shelter them from the wind.

Sergei, 32 years old, is from Mykolayiv. After several days of bombing, he took his pregnant wife and 6-year-old son to safety in Poland, before returning to Ukraine. Today, he leaves Ukraine through Moldova to join his family. He is one of the few men allowed to leave the country: treated for hepatitis C in Mykolayiv by Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), he was discharged by the military.

Dozens of people a day, victims of physical deterioration from chronic diseases - hypertension in particular have been treated at the medical post located at the Moldovan border post. Doctors Without Borders has set up a medical centre in Palanca to support the Moldovan teams already on site, and offers psychological first aid.

Once the border is crossed, the majority of Ukrainian refugees leave the country, heading for Romania, Poland and other destinations in Europe.

See our latest updates on the unfolding crisis in Ukraine.

Ukraine: No place feels safe as civilian and medical infrastructure hit amid rising casualties

On 25 October, a residential area in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro came under attack. At least 21 people were injured, and five people, incl...

Ukraine: In transit for survival - Doctors Without Borders ambulances and the war-wounded

The war in Ukraine, ongoing since 2014, escalated significantly in 2022, with inte...

Ukraine: Attack on Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital in Kyiv

Children with serious medical conditions, some requiring critical life support are waiting for evacuation or re-hospitalisation in other parts of O...

Ukraine: Doctors Without Borders evacuates 150 patients due to repeated attacks on hospitals in Kherson

Doctors Without Borders /Médecins Sans Frontières (

Ukraine: Kherson hospital shelled twice in 72 hours

At the time of writing, the same hospital that was shelled on Tuesday in Kherson Region,

Ukraine: Doctors Without Borders mobile healthcare supports a rural town

Unlike some other humanitarian emergencies where local healthcare systems collapse or struggle to meet people’s needs, hospitals ...

Ukraine: Data and patient accounts reveal consistent indiscriminate attacks against civilians

22 June 2022, Lviv/Brussels – Medical data and accounts from patients evacuated on Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Fronti...

Ukraine: in Kharkiv’s underground stations, Doctors Without Borders mobile clinics care for the most vulnerable

Since the beginning of the war in