Dozens of Ukrainians who were granted temporary humanitarian protection by Malta following the 2014 war with Russia were asked to leave last summer when their protection status was revoked due to a change in circumstances.
One woman has spoken about how her mother, who was given protection in Malta for six years, had to pack and leave within 10 days when, in June 2021, she was informed by the International Protection Agency that her protection status was revoked since the conditions under which it was granted “no longer subsist”.
“She was sent back into a war,” said Olga (not her real name) who lives in Malta.
Soon after Russia annexed Crimea – then part of Ukraine – in 2014, Moscow began supporting pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s south-eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, a conflict which claimed the lives of almost 14,000 people.
Olga’s mother was from Donetsk.
Olga, who did not want to reveal her real name to protect her family, described how she came to Malta with her husband and toddler daughter back in 2014 – to escape the war in her country.
“I remember I was walking on the road in the area where I lived in Selidovo, located in the west of Donetsk. I was pushing my daughter in her pushchair when a tank, driven by a young Ukrainian soldier, just headed towards us. I ran and it followed. That was when I told my husband we had to leave,” she recalls.
The family then made their way to Malta, where they had friends. Once here, they initially applied for asylum but this was denied and they were eventually granted temporary humanitarian protection status.
Meanwhile, her husband managed to get EU citizenship due to his Romanian roots, so her family were allowed to stay in Malta as EU citizens.
"I just want to share my story so people will know"
'She was working and had a contract'
But this did not apply to Olga’s mother who came to Malta in 2015 and was also granted temporary humanitarian protection.
This was renewed every September but, last July, her mother was contacted and told that the situation in Ukraine had settled, so she no longer had protection and had to leave in 10 days.
“This did not make sense. She had been in Malta for six years. She was working here and had a work contract,” she said.
“The mother returned to their hometown Selidovo where she now lives with her sister and mother.
“They sent her back to war... the situation is still calm there but people are planning to go underground as the war gets closer,” she said.
Once Russia invaded Ukraine, Olga would have loved to bring her mother to Malta but cannot since travelling would be more dangerous.
“I just want to share my story so people will know,” she says.
Hers is not a one-off.
According to Anna Syurma, assistant to the honorary consul of Ukraine in Malta, following the 2014 war about 100 Ukrainians were granted protection by Malta and this was eventually revoked.