On the video, we see them singing. Christmas carols, songs to the glory of Ukraine, nursery rhymes. Svitlana Ivanyskyn loves it and she regularly films herself with her phone, alongside the woman she has been caring for for three years now, every night and a few hours during the day. Singing is good for this lady of over 101 years old, on the threshold of her life. After the night, when she returns home, a studio in Kremlin-Bicêtre (Val-de-Marne), Svitlana knits woolen socks for the Ukrainian soldiers at the front. Her 29-year-old son is among them.
Svitlana has been in France since 2016. She is 52 years old and undocumented. Arrived well before the war, she is not entitled to the temporary protection system that the European Union granted to refugees from Ukraine who fled the Russian invasion of their country in February.
Estimates are by definition uncertain but, like her, tens of thousands of Ukrainians are in an irregular situation. “More than 50,000 people”ventures a diplomatic source. “Between 30,000 and 50,000”corroborates a framework of the Ministry of the Interior who remarks the “triple dead end” in which they are. “These people are excluded from temporary protection, cannot be deported and are not regularizedhe points out. The situation was reported to Matignon in the spring but the subject was not considered a priority. »
” It’s incomprehensible “
Svitlana came to France to be closer to her son. Despite training as an accountant in his country of origin, the latter had started working in construction, before finally joining the Foreign Legion in 2015. He notably fought in Mali for France. Svitlana first did housework in private homes, paid between 6 and 12 euros per hour according to the employer, rarely declared, before finding work with this old lady whose daily life she brightens up. She never applied for a residence permit from the administration, despite her six years of presence in the territory. “I don’t know what to do, I’m not declared, it’s a vicious circle”she confides, affected.
Those who ventured to ask for regularization in respect of their family life in France or their work did not necessarily succeed. Tatiana and Bogdan (names have been changed) arrived in November 2015. Their asylum application was initially rejected. In 2018, they tried to be regularized with the prefecture of Ille-et-Vilaine. For this, the couple argues for the education of their two sons, the youngest of whom was born in 2017. Bogdan also has a promise of permanent employment as a worker in a slaughterhouse which, given the structural difficulties of recruitment , offers its employees accommodation. Tatiana also has a promise of employment from the establishment.
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