500,000+ refugees flee Ukraine since Russia waged war
CTV
The mass exodus of refugees from Ukraine to the eastern edge of the European Union showed no signs of stopping Monday as they flee Russia's burgeoning war, with the UN estimating that more than 500,000 people have already escaped.
Long lines of cars and buses were backed up at checkpoints at the borders of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and non-EU member Moldova. Others crossed the borders on foot, dragging their possessions away from the war and into the security of the EU.
Several hundred refugees were gathered at a temporary reception centre in the Hungarian border village of Beregsurany, where they awaited transportation to transit hubs that could take them further into Hungary and beyond.
Maria Pavlushko, 24, an information technology project manager from Zhytomyr, a city around 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, said she had been on a skiing holiday in the Carpathian mountains when she got word from home last week that Russia's invasion had begun.
"I'm waking up just because my granny called me saying there is war in the city," she said.
