Calais, notorious for its refugee tent camps, hosts Ukrainians at a hostel by the beach

A young Ukrainian mother and 41-year-old man from South Sudan had similar stories to tell on a recent morning in the northern French city of Calais. Both described fleeing war: Yuliia Vyshnivecka had escaped the Russian invasion with her 4-year-old daughter; Ahmed had left amid a civil war. Both were hungry, exhausted and faced the possibility of never reaching their desired destination: Britain.

“If I don’t get the visa, I’ll go back to Ukraine,” Vyshnivecka said, close to tears.

But by the end of the day, the two refugees’ fortunes had dramatically diverged. Hours after arriving in Calais, Vyshnivecka and her child were welcomed by British immigration officials and put on a bus headed for the United Kingdom.