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Transcript/Script((PLAYBOOK SLUG: TV Ukrainians in Tijuana – Part 1 - Mendoza
HEAD: Ukrainian Families Fleeing Russian Invasion Arrive in Tijuana Seeking Entry into US
TEASER:
PUBLISHED AT: 04/xx/2022
BYLINE: Celia Mendoza
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Tijuana, Mexico
VIDEOGRAPHER: Ernesto Eslava, Pablo Zamora, Serhiy Lysenko
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA
PLATFORMS: (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
SCRIPT EDITORS: KE(1st);
TRT: 2:45
VID APPROVED BY: KE
UPDATE:))
((INTRO))
[[Thousands of Ukrainians fleeing their war-torn country have come to the U.S.-Mexico border in Tijuana to seek entry into the United States on humanitarian grounds. VOA’s Celia Mendoza traveled to Tijuana to hear their stories and filed this first of two reports.]]
((NAT SOUND OLGA))
((Olga Smirnova, Ukrainian Refugee in Tijuana)) ((IN ENGLISH))
"….We must go to another place again and again and that's why they want to go so far, because it's the third time."
((NARRATOR))
Three times now, 36-year-old Olga Smirnova has been displaced because of fighting in Ukraine.
In 2014, she abandoned her hometown of Luhansk for Kyiv due to the war in the Donbas. This year on February 24th when the Russian invasion began, she fled to the Czech Republic with her husband and her 6-year-old daughter.
Now she is in Mexico in the border city of Tijuana, where she and her family are waiting to enter the United States.
((Olga Smirnova, Ukrainian refugee in Tijuana)) ((IN ENGLISH))
“I can be one of the 100 thousand.”
((NARRATOR))
The Biden administration has promised to accept up to 100-thousand Ukrainian refugees into the United States.
And so far over ten thousand Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Tijuana on their way to the U.S.
Most camp near the San Ysidro port of entry.
((Enrique Lucero Vásquez, Tijuana Migrant Affairs)) ((IN SPANISH))
"They entered as tourists from Europe, through the Cancun or Mexico City airports. When they enter the United States, they will be refugees.”
((NARRATOR))
Ukrainians waiting to enter the United States say they feel welcome here.
((Anastasia Matrosula, Ukrainian Refugee in Tijuana)) ((IN ENGLISH))
“We took a plane from Warsaw to Cancun, then stayed in a hotel and then we took a flight from Cancun to Tijuana and here we got to this volunteer center where these amazing people help us and also provides us with food and shelter, and we were feeling really safe.”
((NARRATOR))
37-year-old, Anastasia Matrosula, fled from her hometown of Mykolaiv with her sons Denis and Dima.
Almost a month later, on April 4th , they entered the United States, but she grieves for those left behind.
((Anastasia Matrosula, Ukrainian Refugee in Tijuana)) ((IN ENGLISH))
“It's breaking my heart to realize that people can't get out of there, really. And sometimes I just want to scream to the whole world that save Ukraine, save kids. So, this is really happening.”
((NARRATOR))
Just like Anastasia, Olga Smirnova worries about those left behind.
((Olga Smirnova, Ukrainian Refugee in Tijuana)) ((IN ENGLISH))
“My parents are in Kyiv, near Bucha, near Irpin”
((NARRATOR))
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, more than five million Ukrainians have fled their country seeking refuge elsewhere.
((Celia Mendoza, VOA News, Tijuana, Mexico))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Tijuana, Mexico
BylineCelia Mendoza
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
