Natalija and her children are among the many refugees who came to Bosnia from Ukraine, and she told N1 that she decided to do so because it was a matter of life or death.

Natalija and her children are now in Medjugorje, an unofficial Catholic pilgrimage town.

“We came to Medjugorje to pray for peace, to pray for our children, for the future, for a free country. We pray every day,” she said.

She stressed that her husband did not want to leave Ukraine and remained to fight for his country. Her parents also stayed in Ukraine.

“The situation is very difficult at the moment, people are dying, many children are dying, too many cities have been attacked,” said Natalija.

According to the Red Cross in BiH, all the refugees who arrived are in relatively good physical health, but it is clear that the traumatic war experiences will have consequences for their psychological health.

“These are our friends and people in need, we all want to help. They can stay here for a month, according to our law, and we suggest that they go to more developed countries, where refugee rights are better defined in the law,” said Andrija Stojic, from the Red Cross of Citluk.