Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister has declared his country is “ready to fight” the EU’s “unjust” and “politically motivated” sanctions as refugees continue to pour across the Polish border. Telegraph journalist Steven Edginton travels to Poland to investigate how the country has responded to the worst humanitarian crisis facing Europe since the Second World War. Edginton explores the cultural divisions within the EU and how Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has impacted these fault lines.

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Tanya is an innocent enough looking young lady. A poet in another life, her brunette hair is tied back neatly and her maroon top looks sleek; not a crease in sight. She speaks softly in her native Ukrainian as she recites a poem she wrote dedicated to the invaders currently occupying large parts of her country.

“An angel from heaven won't save you, nor extinguish your sinful souls,” She says with a note of vengeance. “Ares will drag you down with him and tear you to pieces in the dark wilderness.”

Her voice begins to quiver as she begs for the war to stop. You wouldn’t know it, but just days before our meeting the smartly-dressed Tanya was in a bunker with her toddler, hiding from Putin’s bombs. She explains how the war began for her family.

“It was very unexpected. It started in the morning, around 4am on the 24th of February. Everyone was getting ready for work. I have a little child and he was sleeping very tight when all of this started.”

Soon Tanya and her little boy were cowering in an underground shelter, unable to leave for three days until the air raid sirens stopped. The ground around them shook so violently that they were forced to create a special pot for boiling water and cooking which could withstand the force of the explosions.

Now Tanya and her child are safe in a Warsaw suburb; She just started work in a children’s hospice and is living with a Polish family.

In Poland, there are more than two million stories just like Tanya’s.


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