They flee the war, leaving behind them a country disfigured by the bombardments. Nearly three weeks after the start of the Russian invasion, the exodus of Ukrainians continues. According to the latest UN count, more than 2.8 million people, mainly women and children, have fled the country to find refuge in Europe. Fifteen thousand of them have already arrived in France, indicated this Tuesday morning on European 1 Marlène Schiappa, Minister Delegate in charge of Citizenship.
The day before, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin had indicated that France could “welcome up to 100,000 refugees” on its territory. To accommodate these Ukrainian families, the government launched last week the “I am committed to Ukraine” platform which to date lists more than 30,000 housing proposals. But without waiting for the action of the public authorities, Sébastien Champalaune had done the same from the start of the war by launching Ukraine Solidarity website.
He puts his skills to good use in the face of an emergency
“I watched television and I saw all these women with their children wandering in the street without really knowing where to go,” says Sébastien Champalaune. Powerless in the face of this situation, this Web developer based in Vannes (Morbihan) nevertheless decided to act. “I don’t have the space to welcome refugees to my home, but I still have skills that I wanted to put to good use in the face of the emergency”, underlines this father.
Abandoning his professional projects, he therefore began to code for two days to put online a platform listing all the housing proposals from individuals wishing to welcome Ukrainian refugees. “There was nothing at the very beginning that centralized the proposals, everyone was a bit in the dark,” he says.
The platform translated into English and Ukrainian
With word-of-mouth and relay from the local media, accommodation offers quickly began to flow onto the platform, which now has nearly 1,400 accommodation advertisements available. “We are lucky to live in a beautiful environment facing the sea and would be happy to help a family in difficulty”, writes this family from Plestin-les-Grèves (Côtes-d’Armor), offering “a small semi-detached house of approximately 50m2 with a bedroom with a double bed and a convertible sofa”.
All accommodation is of course made available free of charge, although some have nevertheless tried to make money on the misfortune of others. “We also had a few men who thought they were on a dating site and were looking for a Ukrainian woman, but I quickly sorted through the ads,” he says.
For the past few days, the site has also been translated into Ukrainian and English in order to facilitate searches for refugees wishing to reach France. “Associations have contacted me and are communicating the address of the site to Ukrainians who are currently in Poland”, specifies Sébastien Champalaune, who hopes that his initiative will allow as many Ukrainians as possible to find a roof over their heads and a benevolent family. to welcome them.