Things are getting worse in my neighborhood and more and more actions are taken in an attempt to stop this madness. NATO has activated the response force for the first time in history and this is huge. It is unprecedented, has never happened before in 70 something years, since NATO exists but it is needed.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the U.S., Canada and European allies have deployed “thousands of more troops to the eastern part of the alliance,” with more than 100 jets and 120 ships operating on high alert in more than 30 locations. The United States has already deployed or repositioned roughly 15,000 American troops to locations in Germany, Romania and Poland. source
So far Russian troupes are far from the NATO border on land, but it doesn't seem Russia wants to give up, so further preparations are needed, in case things get worse. At the time of writing, the latest news is there will be talks tomorrow around 3 or 4 pm at the Ukrainian - Belarus border, which is something, but don't expect much. People are skeptic.
Refugees are coming through the checkpoints, according to official sources, there are 46,000 in total and a good part have already left Romania to go to other European countries, where they have family, relatives or friends. The rest are still in Romania, waiting for ... well, no one knows what to wait for as this mess won't be over soon. Around 40 Ukrainian citizens have applied for refugee status, the rest are either undecided, or hoping to go back or out of the country to another destination.
According to the latest measures, civilians are not allowed to host refugees anymore, authorities want to handle the operation themselves.
Unfortunately the line on the Ukrainian side is getting longer and longer, people are staying in line for more than 24 hours now. One of the Romanian reporters is trying to come back home and he's been in line for more than 2 days now. Shops, petrol stations close to the borders are empty and the little food that is left is rationed. Fuel is also rationed and only cash is accepted. Locals and volunteers from Romania are crossing the border to ring them water and food. Looks like the Romanian border control has the capacity to process around 2000 people per hour but only 500 are passing as the Ukrainian border control is slow.
Ever since this nightmare started, I can't stop thinking about what would I do, how would I cope with the situation. The answer is no one knows, till you are in that situation yourself.
Romania doesn't have a mandatory military service anymore, it was abolished in 2006, which means the last batch of men having military training are now 35 years old or so (I hope my math is correct). So all men between 35 and 60 would be called back to serve, plus the younger generation between 18 and 35 will be enlisted and trained for war.
In Ukraine civilians can also fight, as far as I know those willing are given firearms. Even for someone with military service completed is scary, let alone for civilians who have never held a firearm in their hands.
I had part of military shooting practice years ago, in pouring rain, with a high ranking officer shouting at us, giving orders when to get down, charge the rifle, aim and shoot, then recharge and do it again, all that as a teenager. There were guys almost sh*tting themselves out of fear, although it wasn't war. My rifle jammed, I had to notify the officer about it, without getting up as the others were still shooting, time was running out and I didn't know what to do as no one told me how to deal with a situation like this. That was only a drill but still stressful. It's not easy at all, trust me, let alone when you know the enemy you are fighting against is military or special forces.
The other choice you have is to leave and as it happened in Ukraine, people had a very short time to get out of their homes, with a backpack and many with two or three kids. You can't take the whole house with you as only one or max two bags you can carry, so what would you take with you?
The most obvious answer people give to this question is that there's peace, there's no need to leave,they are safe but is it? It is peace in most of the countries. It was peace four days ago in Ukraine as well and look where we are now.
How about in case of an emergency, an earthquake, flood or fire. Would you be able to pack in 10 minutes? Would you know what to take with you?
We tend to take everything for granted, then when things happen, we have no idea what to do.
