According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over 836,000 people have left Ukraine since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion on Feb. 24.
With Russian troops shelling Ukrainian cities, hitting schools, kindergartens and nurseries, hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing to Ukraine's westerns frontiers.
Despite Ukrainian western neighbors – Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Moldova – welcoming all those in need, the country's border checkpoints have failed to accustom unprecedented numbers.
Ukrainian families spend hours, sometimes days, in traffic at the border, while those seeking to leave by train overcrowd Ukrainian railway stations.
“At this rate, the situation is set to become Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century,” UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo said on March 1.
The Kyiv Independent publishes a series of photos from the train station in the western Ukrainian city Lviv, which became the main destination for those seeking evacuation within Ukraine, and the Rava Ruska border crossing point with Poland.
Ukrainians fleeing the war to Poland cram the Lviv train station on Feb. 28, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Ukrainians board a train to Poland at the Lviv train station on Feb. 28, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Lviv has become the main destination for Ukrainians who seek to evacuate from the war-hit eastern cities but stay in Ukraine. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)A family waits for their train at the Lviv train station on Feb. 27, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Ukrainians fleeing the war eat the meals offered by volunteers near the Lviv train station on Feb. 27, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)A volunteer feeds refugees as they wait for to cross the border with Poland at the checkpoint in Rava Ruska, Ukraine on Feb. 26, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Ukrainian refugees walk towards the Rava Ruska border checkpoint to cross into Poland on Feb. 26, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)People crossing the border by car wait in a 30-kilometer-long line near the border checkpoint near the Polish border at Rava Ruska, Ukraine on Feb. 26, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
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