Despair turns to cheer, tears are wiped away and empty stomachs are filled at Poland’s main foot crossing point into Ukraine.
The emotions at Medyka are as varied as the people who transit the short path either back to war or to escape from it.
The route is lined with gazebos manned by volunteers from around the world offering hot food, sweets, tea and information on housing and onward travel.
Exhausted mothers, pushing prams with toddlers trailing, gratefully take the proffered sandwiches or paper cups filled with jarzynowa potato salad. Their looks of joy are tempered by sorrow at leaving behind husbands and sons, not knowing when or if they will see them again.
There are a few men, one a foreign fighter returning back to Georgia after witnessing rape and child killings in Bucha. There are farmers eager to return to grow potatoes to feed their country. A wife who cannot bear to be separated from her husband any longer, despite their city being under missile attack – “better that we die together than we continuing living apart,” she told The National.
‘Better die together’
About 10 missiles struck the city of Dnipro in the centre of Ukraine last week. It is dangerous, admits Elea Serebriakova, 39, but the emotional drain of being apart from her partner and parents was too great after she fled the country a month ago.
“It is better to die together than be apart. It is unbearable” she said. “It is very tough emotionally; it’s very hard to be separated from my husband. It is safe here in Poland, but now I want to be with him in Dnipro.”
She left after the Russians bombed, then seized, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in early March. “We were very scared then, but now I want to go back and support my people because the Russians are planning to attack.” For a moment she paused, tears glistening in her eyes. “The Russians are so stupid – stupid – to come to Ukraine.”
The secretary
Olga Pylup’s first act on entering Poland was to use the sink next to the outdoor Portaloos to scrub her hands. It was perhaps a step in erasing the memory of war.
There was very little left for her in the city of Svatove in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine after it was occupied by the Russian-backed LNR separatists.
Twice the townspeople had united in protest against the LNR only for Russian troops to intervene.
A few months earlier, she had left her job as a secretary to look after her dying father. Then the invasion came.
“It was really hard to find food. All the shops had left was bread and mayonnaise. Prices were four times higher. There was no internet, no TV. It was like a jail. And I did not want to live under the LNR separatists.”
Olga, 43, managed to get on a bus convoy heading west. She was lucky. A day later, a similar convoy was struck and two people killed.
Where was she heading now? Ireland, she responded. Her clean fingers danced over her phone to find precisely where. “Limerick,” she pronounced with a strong Ukrainian accent. “My mother and cousin are there,” she clarified through The National’s Ukrainian translator. “I am praying to God that my brother and sister and children will live and can leave Luhansk.”
The Georgian
The intense stare and the way he carried his backpack suggested that the stocky, bearded man was one who had witnessed combat.
Joni Khvadagiani, 39, was returning from the fulcrum of frontline fighting against Russian troops around the towns of Bucha and Irpin, north of Kyiv.
Ukraine’s human rights commissioner reported on Tuesday that 25 girls had been raped by Russians. Nine had become pregnant during the brutal occupation of Bucha, where an estimated 500 civilians were murdered.
Joni, a volunteer from Georgia, was among those who rescued the girls. “We heard them screaming from a basement,” he told The National. “But we first had to get the engineers because the doors were booby-trapped. They made the explosives safe, then we got in. We found the girls. They were dressed in pyjamas and they were really, really cold. Some were 14 years old, some younger. They had been raped by the Russians. Nine were pregnant.”
He spoke calmly, but his outrage was evident as he recalled other children’s bodies floating in canals. Then he showed pictures of a smouldering BTR armoured vehicle his unit had destroyed along with the bloodied bodies on young Russian soldiers sprawled in the road.
“They should not have come,” he said.
His motivations for joining the war were clear. Joni’s father and brother had been killed during Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008. As soon as the Ukraine invasion started he flew out of Tbilisi. “I came to fight for Ukraine,” he said, and vowed he would return to finish the fight after a break back home in Georgia.
“For sure, 100 per cent, Ukraine will win the war. When they do, we will come back and fight Russia in Georgia. The Russians are worse than animals. They are not human.”
The farmers
“Potatoes,” said Andrii and and Stepan. “We are going back home to plant potatoes to feed our people so they can fight the war.”
Like many Ukrainians, the pair had gone to their EU neighbour to earn better wages. Now they wanted to go home and help. Normally Andrii, 48, would have been immediately drafted into the army on crossing the border into Ukraine. Every man aged between 18 and 60 is liable for the draft. But he has a disability, although that will not put him off joining the territorial defence, along with Stepan, who is approaching his 60th birthday.
But was it safe to return? “The words ‘it’s safe’ are not good now for Ukrainians. It is dangerous everywhere,” replies Andrii. “We expected this because Putin wants to destroy Ukraine, but we have the best army in the world.”
“We are grateful for all the people of Europe who give us help with the weapons,” interjected Stepan. “But we need more. Nato to give us more modern weapons so we can close the sky to Russia’s aviation.”
Mother, daughter, cats
Inna Butko could not hide her smile on arriving in Poland. As she sat on a bench opposite a free food stand, she could finally relax. She had made it to safety with her 16-year-old daughter and two cats, Toffee and Lemon.
They too had escaped from the east. They had fled their hometown of Sloviansk, near Kramatorsk, before it was encircled by the Russians. The stories from Bucha of rape and executions of civilians had been enough to spur them on, even though she was leaving behind her husband and 29-year-old son.
“It was dangerous getting out. There were a lot of bombs. There were sirens every day. We are very happy that we are here because it was so hard to get out. But we are very worried about my husband and son. It is stressful and terrifying for them, but one day we will return. Ukraine will not give up.”
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES
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Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
