Ashkelon, Israel \u2014 CNN <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was supposed to be a safe haven \u2013 a new life for those seeking refuge from the turbulence of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But when tens of thousands of Ukrainians fled to Israel in the wake of Russia\u2019s invasion, they had no idea of what the future would hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With men aged 18 to 60 forbidden to leave Ukraine, the refugees were mostly women, children and the elderly. Among them, four courageous teenagers who arrived alone in Israel to start a new life as a result of Moscow\u2019s assault on their homeland on February 24, 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Little more than a year and a half later, these young people found themselves <\/strong>immersed in another conflict, as they study at a boarding school just 8 miles from Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe day before was very peaceful,\u201d recalled Artem Karpin, 18, of Hamas\u2019 attack on Israel on October 7. \u201cI remember thinking I wasn\u2019t really ready with my homework and wondering how to postpone my deadlines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Karpin lives and studies at Kfar Silver, a youth village near Ashkelon, close to where Hamas militants infiltrated the border that Saturday morning. He is one of about 40 Ukrainian refugees to enrol there since Russia invaded his country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Artem Karpin was visiting family in Israel when Russia invaded Ukraine. His family insisted he remain there.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Run by the global education charity World ORT, the \u201cvillage\u201d is effectively a sprawling complex for 1,090 children from challenging backgrounds \u2013 including 250 boarders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Originally from the southwestern city of <\/strong>Odesa, Karpin had been visiting relatives in Israel when Russia invaded Ukraine. His father gave him no choice but to stay put.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI started crying when I began to understand that I\u2019m not going back,\u201d he told CNN at Kfar Silver. \u201cI felt betrayed. I didn\u2019t think it was a wise decision to leave me here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nearly 2,000 miles from his parents, Karpin, then 16, enrolled at Kfar Silver, where he soon began to learn the language, make friends and settle in. That was until life was upended again on October 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat morning we all ran from the dorms to the shelter in the school,\u201d he said. \u201cI was scared but not terrified. I was trying to talk it all through rationally and it really helped.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Karpin was one of 63 of pupils on site that day, as was 18-year-old Michael Reider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These four teenagers all moved from wartorn Ukraine to Kfar Silver near Ashkelon in Israel. From left: Michael Reider, Artem Karpin, Maria and Sviatoslav Kulyk.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Originally from Kyiv, Reider arrived in Israel in March 2022 following a gruelling journey from his homeland to Poland, where he spent a week on his own before flying out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On that \u201cblack Shabbat\u201d of October 7, he said: \u201cI woke up and there were a lot of sirens and rockets were flying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had already experienced one invasion and now this was a second one. I don\u2019t know how to explain it \u2013 I wasn\u2019t really afraid. I felt kind of angry and like I had the energy to fight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pupils and staff remained in the shelter for hours as the unprecedented terror raged around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amos Gofer, who served in the IDF for 25 years before becoming chief executive of Kfar Silver, told CNN: \u201cDuring my military service I spent time in Lebanon, Gaza, occupied territories. I saw some stuff but October 7 was the hardest day of my professional life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe were terrified. We knew very early that the situation was very bad, that there were a lot of terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was sure the terrorists were going to come here to kill us,\u201d said Gofer, who keeps the remains of a <\/strong>rocket which exploded on the school grounds on his desk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had three people with personal pistols, which was nothing compared to the heavy ammunition the terrorists had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amos Gofer, CEO of the Kfar Silver youth village, poses with the gnarled remnants of a Hamas rocket which landed near to the school.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe saw no helicopters, no police, no military \u2013 I still don\u2019t understand why it took so long,\u201d said Gofer, <\/strong>referring to widespread reports on October 7 that the army and security forces took hours to react to the incursions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amos Gofer, CEO of the Kfar Silver youth village, poses with the gnarled remnants of a Hamas rocket which landed near to the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gofer told CNN that \u201cthousands of rockets\u201d flew over the village, while fires broke out everywhere around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With no response to his repeated calls to the army and emergency services, who were dealing with ongoing attacks in multiple locations, Gofer finally called a bus company manager he knew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe told me none of his bus drivers were willing to come\u2026 everyone was terrified.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two drivers from the bus company eventually volunteered to evacuate the children to another village further north, he added. \u201cThey told me if they\u2019re not out of here in two, three minutes they would go without the students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Karpin recalled: \u201cWe had several minutes to pack our clothes and run for the buses. I got the most essential stuff and that\u2019s it. In an hour or two we were in Netanya.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Four days later, Karpin\u2019s parents, back in Ukraine, insisted that he leave Israel with other relatives for Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAfter three weeks I started to feel that I wanted to return (to Israel),\u201d he said of his time in Greece and Germany. \u201cI missed my studies and my friends. It was getting a little safer in Israel, so I convinced my family I needed to get back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In common with some other foreign boarders, 17-year-old Maria, who asked not to give her surname for privacy reasons, was staying with a nearby \u201chost family\u201d because of the religious holiday when Hamas launched its assault on October 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt six in the morning we were all running to the shelter and you could hear sirens,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Originally from the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Maria and her younger brother had moved to their father\u2019s home in Kyiv following the Russian invasion. Eventually the two siblings left the country via Moldova and flew to Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen war broke out in Ukraine it was like life fell apart and this time it was very similar \u2013 I had flashbacks,\u201d she said. \u201cI was scared but also thought if I tried to distance myself as much as possible everything would be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel\u2019s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, as seen from Ashkelon in southern Israel October 8, 2023.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n She remained with the family, who live in Ashkelon, for several days before heading north to join the evacuees, including her brother. There they remained until last month when they returned to the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy mum was worried about us,\u201d she said, adding that their mother suggested they return home to Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI told myself I could go back but that I\u2019d be going back to war and I couldn\u2019t possibly know if it\u2019s safer. At the same time, I didn\u2019t want to leave Israel. I thought \u2018do I need to flee again to start life again once more?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After lengthy family discussions, the siblings decided to stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn some ways I\u2019d rather be here,\u201d said Maria. \u201cI just wish for my family to be brought together again in peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fellow Ukrainian Sviatoslave Kulyk, 17, told CNN he had \u201cnot been afraid at all\u201d about leaving his family for Israel back in 2022.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI understood that it was better to live in a country with no war,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That all changed when he woke up at his friend\u2019s house in Ashkelon on October 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had flashbacks to Ukraine, especially when we watched TV about what was happening,\u201d said Kulyk, who told CNN he had witnessed Russian forces roll into his street from his home in Kharkiv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy mum was really afraid of me being in Ashkelon but I was trying to explain that I had a bomb shelter here,\u201d he said, adding that Ukrainian homes are not equipped with so-called safe rooms. All Israeli homes built after 1993 must have such a shelter, designed to protect residents from rocket attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ortamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/240116142431-artem-karpin-768x512-1.webp\")
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