On a Wednesday morning, passengers are thronging at platform 4 at Hamburg’s central bus station (ZOB): children with teddy bears in their arms, fathers with bulky suitcases. Two girlfriends are taking a selfie, one is holding white roses. It’s getting bustling, this morning buses are leaving to Kaltenkirchen or Heide-Park Soltau, but also further afield, to Sofia, Warsaw – and to Kyiv.
The bus with the inscription Adler Trans and the Ukrainian license plate will be on the road for 26 hours, passing through the western Ukrainian city of Lviv and arriving in Kyiv next morning. The trip costs 100 euros. Many of these bus tours to Ukraine are fully booked these days. Some people are drawn home, they return to areas from which the Russian tanks have already withdrawn or were never able to advance. Others visit relatives, fetch belongings and return after a few days – to their new home in Hamburg.
Just like Tatyana Kovalenko, who is sitting on one of the benches in the sun and waiting for the descent. She is one of the few who speaks some German or English, and a translation app always helps. She does not want to give her real name, you never know who is reading this text. She originally comes from Odessa, the embattled port city on the Black Sea.
She fled to Germany with her two children and her mother six months ago, she says. Their destination today is Lviv, about 70 kilometers from the Polish border, where Kowalenko has relatives. She says: “I’m scared of the bus ride. But I haven’t seen my husband for six months, it has to be.” Her husband is now in Lviv, whether he’s on leave from the front, what else he does there, she doesn’t want to say anything about that. In addition, Kovalenko urgently wants to renew a few documents with the Ukrainian authorities and take new clothes with him for the winter. But after two days of “home leave” she will return. Her two children will stay with their mother in Hamburg.
Refugees fleeing the war zone, then returning to their country for a few days and then seeking refuge and protection in the West? This may leave you feeling disturbed at first, without having to think of “social tourism” like the CDU chairman Friedrich Merz. People who come from Kyiv and visit friends in Hamburg also get off the buses that drive from the Ukraine to Hamburg at the central bus station. Others travel east, like Kovalenko, who stay for a short time and then return.
Are they allowed to? Call the Office for Migration, the short answer is: Yes, you can. The more detailed one: What matters is how long the Ukrainian war refugees stay in their homeland. A spokesman for the authority writes: “When leaving the country for Ukraine, it should be noted that a residence permit (…) that has been granted expires if the title holder leaves the federal territory for a reason that is not temporary in nature or does not return within after leaving the country of six months or a longer period determined by the immigration authorities.” In other words: leaving the country for a short period of time, for example for a visit, and a subsequent return are possible and legally permissible.
In principle, Ukrainian war refugees receive a residence permit until March 4, 2024 if they have been expelled from their homeland since February 24, 2022 due to the war of aggression. Those who have this permit may work in Germany or receive government support. If the residence permit has expired after leaving the country for too long and the security situation in areas such as Kyiv or Lviv deteriorates again, it is generally possible to apply for a residence permit again.
Back to the bus station, back to Tatyana Kovalenko. She sees her future in Germany: “I’m learning German and would like to work here.” At home in the Ukraine she was a saleswoman, working in a shop for components that mainly sold front doors. She is very grateful for how well the people in Germany accepted her. Happy how the city of Hamburg helps people.
First Kowalenko was accommodated in a reception center, now she lives with her two children and her mother in an apartment in Winterhude. The city is so livable, she enthuses, but she can’t really enjoy Hamburg’s splendor yet. Again and again her thoughts wander to her homeland. Her brother lives in the region around the embattled seaport city of Cherson. You make calls every day. Tatyana Kovalenko is afraid of the moment when his smartphone remains silent.
