I'M SAFE MUM
A MUM stranded outside Ukraine when Vladimir Putin’s tanks rolled in hugs her son joyfully as he arrives safely at the border.
Anna Semyuk, 33, also gave her daughter a loving cuddle as the two children were reunited with her — thanks to the kindness of a stranger.
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Their father had taken them out of the line of fire to the Hungarian border but could not cross himself because of a decree that all fighting-age men must stay to help repel the Russian invaders.
He desperately asked Nataliya Ableyeva, a woman he had never met, if she would take his son and daughter to their mother.
He handed over the children, their passports and Anna’s number — then prayed they would be safe.
The frightened children crossed into Hungary among the steady stream of refugees fleeing the war.
A short time later they were in the arms of mum Anna, who had raced to the town of Beregsurany from Italy.
After she wiped away tears she told how she had tried to reassure them.
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She said: “All I can say to my kids now is that everything will be all right — that in one or two weeks we will go home.”
In the nearby border town of Zahony, 68-year-old Vilma Sugar said: “My son was not allowed to come. My heart is so sore. I’m shaking. I can’t calm down. They did not let him come.”
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The heart-rending scenes came as refugees fled in their thousands.
Nine-mile queues formed at crossings with families waiting up to 12 hours in freezing weather.
More than 120,000 have left already — the first wave of a possible five million-strong exodus as Europe braces for the worst refugee crisis since World War Two.
Poland declared its 330-mile border with Ukraine open, even for those without official documents
Nine reception centres were set up.
Women, children and the elderly were bedding down in sports halls and rail stations. On the first day of the invasion 29,000 made it across. By yesterday that had risen to more than 120,000.
Poland’s Deputy PM Jacek Sasin said: “Our Ukrainian neighbours need real support today.”
In Medyka, a village just over the Polish border, roads ground to a halt as relieved Ukrainians made it to safety and were welcomed by relatives.
"Ludmila, 30, whose husband was not allowed to cross, said: “We leave all our fathers, men, husbands at home and it feels like sh**.”
Marta Buach, 30, from the west Ukrainian city of Lviv, added: “In Lviv it is OK but in other cities it is really a catastrophe.
'I FEEL SAFE HERE'
Teacher Olha, 36, said after arriving at the Polish border town of Przemy: “I come from Kyiv. I heard the explosions next to my building and packed.
“I feel safe here but I cannot really help my relatives and friends. Many of them are in danger and cannot leave as quickly.”
Poland is also sending a train to western Ukraine to take the wounded to Warsaw for treatment.
More than 10,000 refugees arrived in Romania on the first day of the invasion and nearly 3,000 landed in Slovakia.
At the border crossing with Moldova, where a tent village has sprung up, the UN’s refugee chief for Central Europe, Roland Scholling, said: “The situation is absolutely heartbreaking.”
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said: “The humanitarian consequences on civilian populations will be devastating.”
Yet not all travel was in one direction. Poland’s Border Guard said 9,000 headed into the war zone on Day One as they rushed to support their countrymen.
Cars were queuing in both directions at the Medyka-Szeginie border crossing in south eastern Poland with garages reporting petrol shortages as men filled up before driving into Ukraine.
A 26-year-old called Vladek said: “I love Ukraine. We can face Russia. We will fight for our country.
“One Ukrainian will be like ten Russians.”
Another Ukrainian in his 20s, Andriy, said: “We are going home to defend our country.
“This is our duty. We didn’t do anything wrong to Russia.”
A third man, who has left his wife and son in Poland, said: “You have to defend your country. I do not want to go to Russia. I want to live in Ukraine, in Europe.”
'I WANT TO LIVE IN UKRAINE, IN EUROPE'
Inside Ukraine, shortages of fuel, cash and medical supplies were reported, and cities were gridlocked.
A 15-mile jam developed on the E40, the main highway west out of Kyiv, with families thumbing lifts to flee the fighting.
Languages student Ludmilla Orovsky, 20, said after packing her bags into her parents’ Toyota: “We have to leave Kyiv — it is just too dangerous to stay.
“No one here can understand why Putin is doing this to us and how quickly our lives have changed. This is a nightmare.”
But among the shelling, one young couple married to the sound of air raid sirens — before rejoining defence forces.
Yaryna Arieva and her husband Sviatoslav Fursin brought forward their wedding date so they could tie the knot on Thursday — the day Russia started its invasion.
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Yaryna said it was the happiest moment of her life but scary.
She added: “We maybe will die — and we just wanted to be together before all of that.”
Trip is now a horror ordeal
A BRITISH family is stranded in besieged Kyiv after going to Ukraine for half-term.
College student Dasha Foster, 18, seven-year-old brother Dmitri and their mum Hanna, 42, flew from Manchester on Monday to visit friends and family.
The teenager said the invasion has been terrifying — with the family sheltering in an underground car park while rockets struck nearby buildings.
Dasha, who was born and still lives in Manchester, said: “We expected to leave on Friday but all the flights are cancelled, the airspace is closed.”
She said the hostilities started on Thursday “with a loud bang” at about 5am, adding: “Since then, it has been chaos.
“The shops ran out of bread and now they have closed completely. It’s terrifying. At night, you hear bangs and firing. The sirens keep going off.”
Dasha said of the car park: “There are people who have been there since Thursday. When we have to go down to the bunker, everyone is panicking. It’s overwhelming. I want to go home.”
Dasha and teaching assistant Hanna, who was born in Ukraine, queued with Dmitri at Kyiv rail station for four hours on Thursday but could not get a ticket.
They have booked online for a train on Tuesday to take them near the Slovakia border but Dasha fears it will be cancelled.
She said: “We’ve got missiles hitting buildings ten minutes from us. It’s traumatising.”
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