Heartbreaking scenes of fathers forced to abandon their families to take up arms are on the rise in Ukraine, as women and children rush to the borders by the thousands.
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By car, train, bus or even on foot, tens of thousands of Ukrainians have invaded the roads since Thursday. Attempting to flee the Russian invasion, they left behind their home and all their possessions in hopes of surviving.
Photo: AFP
Thousands of women have abandoned their husbands and their homes to be able to flee the country with their children.
Traffic jams tens of kilometers long were observed on several arteries leading to the borders while many motorists in need of gasoline simply abandoned their vehicles.
In just 48 hours, nearly 100,000 people had already left the country, according to the United Nations World Organization. They notably joined Poland, Moldavia, Romania and Hungary, in the West.
“All those who can flee, no one wants to die,” the newspaper told Kyiv Independent taxi driver Tamas Bodnar, who gave up his job to go to Hungary.
forced to fight
But not everyone is so lucky. The government has banned all men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country. This “general mobilization” aims to lend a hand to soldiers who are too few to confront the Russian forces.
Photo REUTERS
Shelling near the capital Kiev has prompted residents to rush to train stations to be evacuated to Lviv in the west of the country.
Some had time to say a last goodbye to their loved ones, wiping away a few tears in the process. But others who tried to flee with their families were brutally separated from theirs.
“A woman screamed for the army to spare her husband. A soldier hit her and took away [l’homme]. The situation looks really hopeless,” wrote freelance journalist Manny Marotta on Twitter.
Photo: AFP
Families can finally rest after crossing the country’s borders following a journey that stretched for more than 20 hours for some.
Like thousands of refugees, Mr. Marotta traveled about 70 km in 20 hours to reach the Polish border.
But a few kilometers from it, Ukrainian soldiers stopped all passing cars to forcibly enlist the men and “fight the Russian invader in the East”.
– With BBC and AFP