YOUNG mum Kristina Petrokhina bursts into tears yesterday as she crosses the border into Poland with her 18-month-old son Max.
Emotional Kristina, 26, fled Ukraine’s capital Kyiv two weeks ago with her Russian-born mum Lena Chimyshenko, 48, and sister, Diana, 11.
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They arrived in Kroscienko by car after an arduous journey as the total number of refugees passed 2.3million on day 14 of the war.
Kristina was comforted by volunteer aid workers next to a makeshift fire pit on the hilltop border as her resilient and cheerful sister tried to lift her spirits.
Speaking through Diana, who learned English at school, she said: “Its been very upsetting.
“We got here by car but there were traffic jams everywhere and we’re very tired.
“We stopped a number of times but now we’ve made it.
“It was very difficult to leave my dad behind. We’re going to Warsaw but we’ll get to go home soon. We’re hopeful.”
Giggling Diana laughed and joked as we continued to talk — and explained: “I am happy. It was my wish to come to Poland.
“I had to leave my books at home, my toys, but I brought my teddy bear with me — I couldn’t forget him.”
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But she added: “Putin is a very, very, very bad person.”
Lena, who was clutching their passports and mobile phones, said: “I have lived in Ukraine for 25 years but was born in Russia. What Putin is doing is terrible — it’s heartbreaking. I am very tearful.”
Some refugees are turning up at borders with frostbite after waiting in queues for up to 60 hours in freezing temperatures.
There are now increasing fears the number of refugees could double to four million in the coming days — ten per cent of the entire Ukrainian population.
One official said: “The first wave of refugees were very quickly moving on because these were people with resources.
“They had contacts elsewhere, so they came and they moved.
“In the second wave we were starting to see people who were very traumatised.
“They left without any resources, were very vulnerable and needed more direct support.”
In Ukraine, there were devastating scenes at Zaporizhzhia railway station as a young boy was passed over the heads of desperate refugees piling on to a waiting train.
We’ve made it. It was very difficult leaving my dad behind …but we will return soon
Meanwhile, more than 43,000 were evacuated by buses and taxis from Sumy. It was one of three humanitarian corridors that were opened to help civilians flee Russia’s bombings raids.
Two more opened in Kyiv and Enerhodar, the southern town where Russian forces took over a nuclear power plant.
More evacuations went ahead yesterday from towns and cities under bombardment in eastern and southern Ukraine, including Mariupol and the outskirts of Kyiv.
People streamed out of Kyiv’s suburbs a day earlier, many headed for the city centre, as explosions were heard in the capital and air raid sirens sounded repeatedly. From there, the evacuees hope to board trains for western Ukrainian regions such as Lviv.
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Civilians in the Kyiv suburb of Irpin had to make their way over the river on slippery wooden planks after the Ukrainians blew up the concrete bridge to slow the Russian advance.
With sporadic gunfire echoing behind them, firefighters dragged an elderly man to safety in a wheelbarrow, a child gripped the hand of a helping soldier and a woman inched her way along, cradling a cat inside her winter coat.
Yevhen Nyshchuk, a member of Ukraine’s territorial defence forces, said: “We have a short window of time at the moment.
“Even if there is a ceasefire right now, there is a high risk of shells falling at any moment.”
Previous attempts to establish safe evacuation corridors over the past few days collapsed when Russia defied ceasefire agreements.
The United Nations has declared it the fastest growing refugee crisis since World War Two.
An average of 115,000 have poured into Europe every day in an attempt to escape the war.
Makeshift refugee camps have been set up in shopping malls, warehouses and retail parks.
UN High Commissioner Filippo Grandi said: “I have worked in refugee emergencies for almost 40 years and rarely have I seen an exodus as rapid as this one.
“Hour by hour, minute by minute, more people are fleeing the terrifying reality of violence.
“Countless have been displaced inside the country.”
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