Endless lines of of refugees fleeing the war: women who managed to grab the most necessary things, children clutching their pets whom they could not leave behind, pensioners whom the vile Russian aggressor pensioners who are being driven to a foreign land by the vile Russian aggressor. Tears, pain, despair.
This is an everyday picture for many checkpoints on the Ukrainian border in the first hours, days, weeks, months of the war.
Most of the people of the people fleeing Russian bullets, shells, missiles, and bombs were crossing the Ukrainian-Polish border. To organize fast border crossing, heating, first aid, water, food, and assistance, help with water, food, clothing and basic necessities and other basic necessities, and to ensure that humanitarian aid is delivered without unnecessary bureaucracy. All these issues from the first hours of the full-scale Russian aggression faced Lviv Customs.
There were plenty of incredible cases at the customs then were numerous: men disguised as women to cross the border, and complete strangers supported each other, children carried their pets and even goldfish, and the then head of Lviv customs was even was offered to take advantage of the situation and facilitate the sale of children abroad. We talked to Daniel Menshikov, the then head of Lviv Customs, and he told UNN firsthand about the most difficult days of the Ukrainian-Polish border in the history of Ukraine.
- What was it like for you? the war started for you.
Around five o'clock in the morning o'clock in the morning, someone from the management called and said that the war had started. Within hour later, my deputies and I were at work. At first, there was a lack of understanding what instructions to expect, whether to call anyone. But we were not confused, because we had to make decisions quickly. We just started doing our job.
I was well aware that there would be a large flow of people fleeing the war, that we would face a large number of atypical and non-standard situations, that we would have to make decisions that in peacetime would require coordination. But I was ready to take on this responsibility. I was ready to take on this responsibility.
On the very first day, I created a humanitarian headquarters at the Lviv customs a humanitarian headquarters at the Lviv customs office, involving many people who are able to to quickly and efficiently solve a large number of issues. This headquarters worked in in many areas and even became an advisory body to the State Customs Service.
The contacts of the headquarters instantly spread throughout Ukraine. People no longer called to resolve customs issues - most of the calls were related to humanitarian issues. For example, in the first weeks of the of the invasion, we received calls from pensioners in Kyiv who needed food and were either unable or afraid to go out. they could not or were afraid to go out. There were also calls asking for help in the evacuation, for example, from Gostomel. The headquarters responded to everything and coordinated people with those who could provide them with the necessary assistance on the spot.
The headquarters also informed people about the rules for importing of humanitarian aid, which were constantly changing at the time, and helped with samples of of documents. In addition, the headquarters developed proposals for changes to the customs legislation regarding the import of humanitarian aid. We were constantly working with Polish colleagues to facilitate easier importation of dual-use goods dual-use goods needed by our military.
- When exactly on February 24 February 24, the first Ukrainians appeared at your customs posts.
In about three hours, the hours later, the first people began to appear at the checkpoints. And quite quickly it turned into an endless stream of people. Our checkpoints were simply not ready for this. Confused, nervous women, children with tears in their eyes, grandparents on crutches or in wheelchairs. crutches or in wheelchairs. People could stand in line for up to ten days to get a pass. But they need something to eat and drink, to go to the toilet, to wash, to warm up somewhere, to hide from the rain and snow.
This was our was a primary challenge for us, and we coped with it. The headquarters, together with the Red Cross organized tents for people to stay and food. We provided people with with hygiene products and other basic necessities, and many of them even with clothes. After all, people fleeing from Russian missiles and shells simply did not have time to pack their bags, and when they got to the border, they simply had nothing had nothing to change into.
- Earlier, about hundreds of thousands, millions of refugees fleeing the horrors of war, we used to watch on TV or read in the news. On the morning of February 24, 2022, this became our reality. You came to the EECP many times then, and talked to these people. What was their condition was. Was it some kind of total depression and despair, or was there still a sense of people still believed in our army and our victory.
During those first months, various situations occurred at the months, various situations occurred at the checkpoints. And not very pleasant ones, when when people lost their nerve.
But mostly complete strangers always tried to help each other, to support each other with a warm word, always looking for a reason to smile and be happy.
During that time, seven children were born seven babies were born in the occupied territory. When the first birth happened, I was I received a call, a report and was told that the holiday was absolutely for everyone who was at the who was at the checkpoint at the time. I didn't believe it at first.
And then one day I came to another checkpoint and went to the birth myself. A baby was born. a baby was born. A smiling mother, a smiling father, who was already in military uniform was seeing his beloved off abroad. And everyone around me is smiling too.
And this is some kind of incredible burst of positive energy from the fact that, despite all the difficulties, a new life is born. At such a moment, you realize that we are an indestructible nation.
Another thing that impressed me a lot was how our people saved their pets. I remember a strong, prickly wind, a mother with two bags, a grandmother with two bags, and a girl of about five years old, clutching a jar of water with a goldfish swimming in it. It would seem that this is just a fish, how many more will she have... but the child does not leave it and rescues his goldfish, which fulfilled his main wish - to survive with his family and and escape from the war. To be honest, I often thought about this girl and thought that the fish fulfilled the wishes not only of her owner, but probably of thousands of our countrymen who who stood in lines and saved themselves and their families from enemy shells.
And how many people crossed through our checkpoints during those cats, dogs, parrots, guinea pigs, hamsters, hamsters, and other animals have entered the EU through our checkpoints in the past few months, guinea pigs, hamsters and other animals - it makes no sense to even count.
I remember horses, were rescued. We helped an equestrian club from Kharkiv. They had a problem with not having they did not have all the documents for export. And here we have these vans with horses, the animals are nervous, screaming. But they solved the issue and transported the horses.
In general, the problem with The problem with the transportation of animals was that the Poles issued phytosanitary documents for them Poles issued phytosanitary documents for them only at two checkpoints and only from eight in the morning to eight in the evening. Then the Ukrainian government held talks with the Polish side, We were part of the delegation from the Ukrainian side. The Poles met us halfway and stopped demanding documents for animals.
- People are were nervous and scared. At that moment, customs officers had to act as psychologists to to calm people down. How did your subordinates communicate with people back then? what did you say to them and what did they say to you?
Both my subordinates and I and my subordinates immediately switched to a round-the-clock mode of operation. The number of of customs officers working at the border was increased. And as I said, we helped people in every way we could, in any way we could. Including with a kind word. They said that Ukraine would definitely would win, and they would all come home soon.
And people thanked us thanked us. And this is the highest appreciation of our work and our efforts at that moment.
- You mentioned in passing mentioned that there were also unpleasant situations at the checkpoints, what was the most impressed you the most with a minus sign.
Perhaps, men who tried to escape abroad in women's clothes.
Those who tried to to leave the country with fake documents or somehow cross the border outside the checkpoints are a slightly different matter. There was an exchange of operational information between different services, and there was a clear workflow.
And those cunning people... Here is a man in a dress or skirt, wearing a wig. He stands there, and I feel ashamed for some reason. It's unpleasant to even mention such characters is unpleasant.
- Our evaders are "creative", there's no arguing with that. But I will assume that this is not the most impressive thing that's the most impressive thing about it.
When I was offered offered to "sell" children, 50 thousand dollars per child.
- How?!
This happened. One of the, shall we say, humanitarian charitable foundations contacted me. And this was their business, they took children from the occupied territories. Of course, without parents, under the guise of adoption, somewhere else. I don't know how this procedure was settled. But in order for customs and border guards not to ask unnecessary questions, they offered 50 thousand dollars per child. There was such a "commercial" proposal. And this was not an isolated case; there was an extensive program for taking children abroad . The security forces were aware, I warned them. I don’t know how the story ended.
– Another challenge for customs was the issue of humanitarian aid, because at that time its import into Ukraine was accompanied by a bureaucratic procedure that took some time. How quickly was this situation resolved?
Already on the first day, trucks with humanitarian aid were parked under the border on the Polish side. But they couldn't come in. Due to the fact that assistance is not subject to taxes and fees, there was a procedure: you need to submit an application, then the recipient must confirm it here, other documents. All this takes time. Long bureaucratic procedure.
I then called the head of the State Customs Service and said: the cars are under the border, what are we going to do, open them? And he answers me: "Do it according to your conscience and for the good of the state, we need to survive and win, and after the victory we will be judged or rewarded for our actions." This was the principle that guided me when I needed to make an instant decision.
And we opened the border, and humanitarian aid came. After long meetings and consultations with us, the government proposed to introduce a simplified humanitarian declaration, which is filled out at the border, where only the sender and recipient, the name and weight of the assistance are indicated. And this was introduced at the state level.
Our headquarters was not directly involved in humanitarian assistance. The main function of people in this area was to contact those who provided assistance and the recipient, and advise on bureaucratic and logistical issues. And so that this help falls into the right hands, and does not end up somewhere on store shelves.
We launched a hotline for people, established contact with the media and constantly reported on changes taking place at checkpoints.
– Have there often been such cases when, under the guise of humanitarian aid, they tried to import commercial products, actually smuggling?
Certainly. But thanks to operational information, coordinated work of customs officers, and cooperation with other services, such dealers were exposed.
They tried to import a lot: exotic fruits, expensive cheeses, sausages, fish. I remember they wanted to import jamon under the guise of humanitarian aid.
These are perishable goods that cannot be kept in a confiscated warehouse for long. A way out of the situation was found almost immediately. There was a database of contacts for military units, we called and asked: is there a persimmon machine, will you accept it? And the persimmon truck goes to the soldiers.
They repeatedly tried to bring in office equipment under the guise of humanitarian aid and expensive telephones. All this was confiscated.
By the way, almost in the first days of the war we opened warehouses of confiscated goods and everything that was possible was given to the army through the confiscation procedure. They gave away all the cigarettes. We had confiscated watches, so we also gave them to military units so that we would have something to reward the soldiers with.
– There was a lot of information that cars were imported supposedly for the military, and then these cars appeared for free sale.
The following facts were also recorded. Operational work was also carried out on them, when a car was delivered, and then an advertisement about its sale appeared on the Internet. Such people were identified. These cars were in the middle price segment - up to 30 thousand dollars.
Expensive cars were then imported legally, because there was zero customs clearance. To whom is war, and to whom luxury. They brought in, I remember: McLarens , Lamborghinis for 350 thousand dollars. But if a person does not violate anything and imports a car legally, then from the point of view of the law there are no claims against him.
– The situation with the flow of refugees and humanitarian aid has stabilized. But this didn’t make your headache any less, because every day new situations arose that required quick decision-making.
And these were situations not of local, but of national significance. You know that because of the war, the export of Ukrainian grain through seaports has significantly decreased. Exporters began to use road transport. At our border, kilometer-long queues of grain trucks formed, standing for almost two weeks. We held negotiations with the Polish side and formed green corridors. The grain trucks left, the lines disappeared.
They did the same when Ukraine was on the verge of a fuel crisis. An empty fuel tanker was allowed into Poland without a queue, when it was already full on its way back - the Poles let it through without a queue.
Yes, for some time there was a fuel shortage at our gas stations, but thanks to our actions we managed to avoid a total shortage.
And then, in conditions of war, it was necessary to resolve elementary issues that had not been resolved for years in peacetime. Take, for example, the Krakovets release point. The Poles, for their part, made the normal journey . And the road on our side was worn out, so The Ministry of Infrastructure repaired it, together we divided lanes and control zones for passenger and freight transport, and launched a new passenger terminal. As a result, throughput increased by more than 50%. And the number of grain trucks registered for departure in just one month increased by almost 90%.
– As far as I know, you and your staff organized and became involved in various social projects?
I remember that the European Parliament was supposed to vote on some important issue for Ukraine. Together with the Aviation of Galicia brand, we made 100 cool sweatshirts. "рускій ваєнний карабль іді нах*й" (Russian warship, go fuck yourself), and on the back "рускій ваєнний карабль ну шо, ти дашол?" (Russian warship, so what? have you arrived?). The European deputies were in Lviv before that vote, and we gave them these sweatshirts . Some of them even voted for them.
We also helped bring damaged Russian equipment, which was then shown in the cities of Ukraine, to Lvov. I personally negotiated with Mayor Sadov and Chairman of the OVA Kozitsky so that it would be placed on Rynok Square .
By the way, there were some people who had an ambiguous reaction to the damaged Russian equipment in the square - they said that we had brought war to Lviv. But I explained that the war is not somewhere far away, it touched each of us, every Ukrainian city and village. And Lvov is the same, because there are many displaced people here, and they hit the city with rockets and suicide bombs , and people died.
We organized another very powerful and emotional project with the Lazar Foundation. We took the most dramatic photos from Bucha, Irpen, Gostomel, Mariupol, and many other cities that were under occupation or suffered from Russian missile attacks and shelling, and put these photos into a traveling exhibition. The photos had a QR code for donations to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We placed this exhibition at checkpoints and in places where Western diplomats gather. So that these people have a constant reminder of the horrors of war that Russia brought to Ukrainian soil . Subsequently, this exhibition visited Greece, Italy, and Spain.
Separately, I would like to say that during this difficult time we did not forget about the children of our fellow customs officers. We quickly reached an agreement with the customs services of Greece, Bulgaria, and the Baltic countries; they met us without any problems, and we sent the children of customs officers from the occupied territories and places where active hostilities were taking place there for vacation.
Organizing the transportation of sick and wounded soldiers abroad has become our everyday business. If a patient is seriously ill or a person is going for an urgent operation, then convoys of cars with flashing lights and a green corridor to the checkpoint were organized from Lviv. After all, not a second could be lost to save a person’s life.
– Fulfilling your immediate responsibilities in double, and maybe triple, volume, implementation of various social projects. How did you have enough time, strength and energy for all this? What caused strong feelings at that moment and what inspired you to continue working?
The phone did not stop ringing for almost a second: consultations, instructions, solutions to issues. Then I slept for two or three hours maximum. Now I don’t even understand where the internal reserves came from so as not to fall off my feet.
I was worried about my parents, who met the beginning of the war in Kharkov and at first did not want to evacuate. At any free minute I called them and convinced them. A month later, I finally convinced him and took him out. Psychologically it became a little easier.
What inspired you? Unconditional faith in our victory. Then I and many Ukrainians had such an inner desire that we would win faster.
Life worked out differently. But the belief that Ukraine will definitely defeat Russia in this war has not disappeared.