Volunteers extend help to thousands of refugees from Ukraine

Since Russia launched attacks on Ukraine, 368,000 people have fled the country, according to the UN refugee agency.

Many have poured into bordering nations such as Romania, Poland, Hungary and Moldova.

But amid the horrors and chaos, volunteers from far and wide are extending help to those whose lives are being shattered by war.

Sitting with her teenage daughter in a hotel foyer in northern Romania, 38-year-old Viktoriya Smishchkyk breaks down in tears as she recounts her departure from Ukraine.

“I could hear the sound of the fighting outside, it was very scary,” Ms Smishchkyk, who is from Vinnitsya in central Ukraine, told the Associated Press (AP) from a hotel that is offering free accommodation to refugees.

“We left all our belongings behind, but they are material things – less important than the lives of our children,” she said.

Ms Smishchkyk and her daughter are among hundreds of thousands of people who have fled Ukraine since Russia launched its attack on Thursday.

At Romania’s Siret border crossing, where thousands of Ukrainians have entered, government workers race to distribute basic amenities donated from all across the country.

Meanwhile, people and businesses are pooling resources to provide the refugees with everything they need.

Stefan Mandachi, a businessman who lives in Suceava, a city about 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of the Siret border, has converted a large ballroom at the hotel he owns into a refugee reception centre and is offering private hotel rooms for free to the displaced.

Scores of mattresses are laid out on the ballroom’s floor, donated clothes are piled high and young children run around.

“I feel the need to help, it’s my duty to help,” said Mr Mandachi, who is also offering free food for Ukrainian refugees from his fast food chain.

“I have locals who speak Ukrainian – we are united to help them.”

For Vasiliu Radu, a 34-year-old emergency service worker at the Siret border, the outpouring of support from volunteers has made him proud of his fellow citizens.

“It’s more important these days, in these situations of war and instability – that people must help each other,” Mr Radu said.

But not everyone trying to flee Ukraine is receiving the help they need.

Some Indian citizens seeking to flee into Poland were stuck at the border on Sunday and were unable to cross, according to Ruchir Kataria, an Indian volunteer in Poland who is trying to help them.

Kataria, who has been in mobile phone contact with Indians stuck at the border crossing into Medyka, and a smaller group at Poland’s Krakowiec border, told the AP that the Indians trying to cross at Medyka were told in broken English: “Go to Romania.”

But the group had already made long journeys on foot to the border, not eating for three days, and had no way to reach the border with Romania, which is hundreds of kilometres away.

In Poland’s south-east city of Przemysl, just a few kilometres from a border crossing with Ukraine, hundreds of people waited in a car park to help refugees who were being brought in by bus from the border by authorities.

“I am very happy that I have come and I want to thank all the people who are organizing this,” a young Ukrainian girl, who had just arrived, said.

“This feels really nice that people are waiting for us in your country.”

Moldova, which shares a long border with Ukraine, is also seeing a massive influx of refugees.

Authorities said that since Thursday, 70,080 Ukrainian citizens have entered the small nation of about 3.5 million.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu, who visited a northern border crossing on Sunday, urged people to remain calm and vigilant and thanked volunteers for their work.

“In these difficult days, I am proud of the citizens of our country, who have shown solidarity and humanity and have offered our neighbours a helping hand when needed,” Ms Sandu said.

Jacob Sontea, a Nigerian student who was based in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, arrived by train at Hungary’s border on Sunday with his family.

Border authorities escorted them into the European Union country, which had until now been notorious for strongly opposing any type of immigration from the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

“It was becoming chaotic in the city of Kharkiv … It was dangerous, so we had to leave because this is the only choice we had,” he said.

Back at the hotel in Suceava, Ms Smishchkyk tries to catch her breath as she glances tearfully at the ceiling.

“They are still there,” she said.

“Our relatives, brothers, sisters, cousins. It is just very difficult to process.”