Moldova close to 'breaking point' as country welcomes Ukrainian refugees fleeing war

What impact is the refugee crisis out of Ukraine having on neighbouring Moldova? ITV News Correspondent Peter Smith explores

Ukrainians arriving in Moldova are now are being given the option to leave again immediately - bussed straight from the border town of Palanca and out to neighbouring Romania.

It’s not that Moldova doesn’t want to help. It’s just they are now on the brink of their own crisis caused by the sheer numbers coming in. 

For context, Moldova’s population is now four percent bigger than it was ten days ago due to refugees. They’ve taken in the biggest - by far - proportion of Ukrainians relative to the size of their country.

That one of Europe’s smallest countries and smallest economies is taking on the biggest share, per capita, of refugees is evidently unsustainable.

'We call on all the states of Europe to share this burden in a fairer way' says Moldova's Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu

Moldova’s Foreign Minister tells me it is putting services under severe pressure and they are now close to "breaking point."

"No one needs Moldova to implode and end up in the middle of big financial, political, and economic turmoil.

That’s what’s at stake and it’s something that Europe certainly does not need - more states being destabilised by this war."

The World Health Organization has just sent a team of medics from Spain to support the health care system. Moldova simply doesn’t have enough doctors to cope with a surge of people in need of medical assistance.

In the short term, sacrifices have been made to treat the Ukrainians but local hospitals need their own staff to get back to the day jobs now before Moldovans suffer. 

What you need to know about the war in Europe - Listen now

Similarly public administration offices have been drowning in paperwork with so many Ukrainians applying for support. They’re working overtime but the state needs to pay for that and Moldova can’t afford for this to continue. 

It’s estimated to be costing Moldova $1 million per day, currently, and for a struggling economy that can’t go on for much longer. 

The pressure is also piling on the state but also Moldovan people who are trying their best to help, as we’ve witnessed first hand in the tiny village of Hirtop. 

Reflecting the Moldovan country as a whole, Hirtop is also now almost five percent Ukrainian.

That so many have been taken in reflects the kindness of the locals but it also comes at a cost.

Resources that were already limited are under enormous strain. Refugees could only given blankets because the mayor of the village, Vitalie Caraja, secured a delivery from Italy. 

"We have a community of people from Hirtop living in Italy now," he tells me. "There is a woman from here called Tatiana Stratov who organised the support and I want to say thank you to her.

"The people of Moldova are trying to help the refugees. We are not rich people, but we are sharing from the little we have."

The mayor is using the empty houses in his village for refugee families.

But there’s no hot water or central heating - the Ukrainians here are not used to these conditions. 

Aliona Marhecnko is staying in one of the repurposed empty houses.

"There are seven of us in total and it’s difficult," she tells me. 

"In Ukraine we had hot water. We had a big house and everything we needed."

She says the children are missing out on education because there’s no internet for them to do home schooling. 

In the same village, 71-year-old Eleanor Gogu has taken in Andrei and his children. But she’s struggling to cover the costs of electricity and food. 

"I am waiting for the European Union to be as helpful with refugees as we are in Moldova," Eleanor tells me with tears in her eyes.

"It’s not the fault of the Ukrainians running away from war."

While Western Europe still deliberates on what to do, Moldovans like Eleanor just do what they can - and they can only hope help is coming.