The young children were welcomed with open arms.
Russia’s ongoing violent invasion of Ukraine has forced almost 3 million Ukrainians to flee their home country, with many seeking refuge throughout Europe.
One video shared to Twitter demonstrated the warmth and generosity shown to two Ukrainian children as they began their first day of school in Italy.
The clip shows 10-year-old Dmitri and his 8-year-old sister Victoria nervously approach the Don Milani institute in Naples. As they entered the building, all the students had lined the halls and corridors and gave Dmitri and Victoria a warm round of applause.
In the video, many children can be seen showing solidarity to the newcomers by wearing blue and yellow, the colours of Ukraine’s flag.
Two children then stepped forward to welcome Dmitri and Victoria personally.
Ukrainian refugee kids arrive in Italy, and start at local schools. On their first day they enter nervously. You won’t believe what the Italian kids did next … pic.twitter.com/XQ1z2gkezb
— Ben Phillips (@benphillips76) March 14, 2022
Over the weekend, An Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that our country’s primary impulse is to “assist those fleeing war”.
During a two-day visit to London, Mr Martin said: “The Irish people are very seized by a series of atrocities that are going on. What we’re witnessing on our screens every evening is really shocking people and there is huge human empathy there to help the women and the children.”
He added that our need to provide a humanitarian response to the crisis “trumps anything as far as we’re concerned”.
The Fianna Fáil leader said: “There is always a balancing of issues, we keep channels open with our UK counterparts – the Home Secretary (Priti Patel) and our Minister for Justice Helen McEntee have been in regular contact.
“I met with the Prime Minister (Boris Johnson) yesterday, he paid tribute to what Ireland is doing on the humanitarian front.”
He also told BBC journalists that he would consider hosting refugees in his own home, saying: “I think these are personal decisions that every family has to take and we will respond in relation to that, as a family we will discuss that. We’re obviously reflecting on this, like everybody else.”
