The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jill Biden hears heartbreak from moms who fled war
BUCHAREST, ROMANIA — Jill Biden on Saturday heard heartbreaking stories from Ukrainian women and children who fled Russia’s war and found safe haven across the border in Romania, and the American first lady praised the Romanian government and relief organizations for the range of humanitarian aid they are providing to refugees.
At a Romanian public school hosting refugee students, Biden saw firsthand the relief efforts to assist some of the 900,000 Ukrainians who have fled to Romania since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.
‘We stand with you,” Biden told mothers of some of the students after visiting classrooms where kids ages 5 to 15 attend school.
But she also cautioned that much more needs to be done by the U.S. and allies to assist Ukraine.
“We’re all hopeful, right,” she told reporters. “We wake up every morning and think ‘this has to end’ but it still keeps going on and on.”
The first lady is on the second day of a four-day trip to Romania and Slovakia that is designed to showcase U.S. support for Ukrainian refugees. Biden was scheduled to spend today, Mother’s Day, there meeting with refugees and visiting a border village.
Biden met with Romanian first lady Carmen Iohannis over lunch at her private residence. Iohannis, who also accompanied Biden during the school visit, kept her job as an English teacher when her husband took office just like Biden kept hers teaching at a northern Virginia community college.
At her tour of the public school, Biden had an exchange with one young Ukrainian girl who told her through a translator, “I want to return to my father.” Biden later told reporters the girl’s words were “heartbreaking.”
At moments, Biden appeared anguished as she listened to the stories from mothers who told her of their own difficult decisions to flee their homeland.
Svitlana Gollyak told Biden that her young daughter had difficulty adapting in the early days of the war but now seems to be turning the corner after arriving in Romania from Kharkiv, Ukraine.
“I think mothers will do anything for their children,” Biden told Gollyak and the other mothers, adding that they were “amazingly strong and resilient.”