Ukrainians' escape by rail, explained

What it's like to flee Ukraine

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, more than 3 million people have been forced to flee their homes and leave the country. The vast majority are migrating west, toward the EU, and most are ending up in neighboring Poland. To escape the violence of the ground more than 2 million refugees have escaped by train, turning Ukraine’s railroad network into a vital lifeline.

We sent a crew out to Przemyśl, a small Polish town on the border with Ukraine, to speak with the people who have fled Ukraine and left everything behind. In this video, we share their stories and take a look at how the railroad is operating in a war-torn country. To help us understand what a difficult operation this is, we spoke to the CEO of Ukrainian Railways, Oleksandr Kamyshin, who is running a mobile command unit to ensure Ukrainians can board trains and get to safety.

To hear their stories and understand the arduous journey many make by rail, watch our video.

Note: The headline on this piece was updated.
Previous headline: What it's like to flee Ukraine

Sources and further reading:

A big challenge we faced making this video was keeping our numbers current. Every day, the UNHCR publishes new data about refugee migration. For the latest numbers, you can visit their data portal here:

You can follow the Ukrainian Railways on Telegram for updated information:

To understand the Temporary Protection Directive in more detail, here’s the EU’s press release that links to the full document:

To understand the racism experienced at the border by refugees of color, we recommend you read Vox’s article by Rajaa Elidrissi and Nicole Narea:

[Vox]

You can help refugees and people in Ukraine. The Future Perfect team at Vox has put together a list of resources and recommended organizations where you can make a difference.

[kugalus]

We here in Poland had a difficult historical relationship with Ukrainians. But I'm proud of my nation that we said "Okay, it happened, it's in the past. Today, we are writing a new history.". And to all Ukrainians watching this: you are welcome here. Everyone is working to help, not just services. Ordinary citizens are coming to the border and driving people anywhere for free. Me, my company, my city, my local scouts, everyone have committed many resources to help Ukrainians. Because nobody should suffer from war. Nobody. Slava Ukrainie.

[solola]

As a Ukrainian, I can tell you that most of us laughed about quality of our rails and services we can get. It was just a never-ending joke. But now I can only say how grateful I am to those outstanding people who do their best to save people and barely have time to sleep, eat, or shower. Heroes exist not only at the battlefield

[denisromania]

To all the Ukrainians fleeing to Romania, please, please, be careful of human traffiking, if you can, double check a person at the border, send a message to a trusted person about your whereabouts. There are romanian volunteers at the border that help you with prepaid internet cards. I know you're all exhausted but take a minute or two to use them first and check the social media accounts and pictures of whoever told you will take care of you. And if someone tries to take advantage of you or charge you for his service please call 112 immediately or ask someone else for help, there are tons of people willing to help, but a few rotten tomatoes that try to take advantage of you.
Take care!

[Piedutch]

The CEO of the transport sector really knows what he's doing. Props to him, i wished my country's transport ministers are half as capable

[khalilahd.]

Can you imagine being ripped from your home? Your country? Depend on other countries and their kindness to take care of your family? My heart breaks for these people and I hate to see history repeat itself. I just pray this is over soon 🙏🏽💜💜

[SquizzMe]

My family fled Iraq in the 90s the same way, and know what it's like to be an exile. I mourn for the Ukrainians. There is no home on this planet. This reality is fleeting.

[chrissmith]

I can’t imagine the pain they are feeling.god bless Ukraine, slava ukraini

[nisma]

Reminds me of my family who also fled war and in the 90s, being a refugee and being exiled from your home brings a loneliness in your heart because you mourn the life you once had and could have had if all that you had known wasn’t torn away.

Freedom to the Ukrainian people and may we all empathize with refugees everywhere.

[Pelthail]

It just breaks my heart to see children having to suffer through this when they don’t even understand what’s going on around them.

[JaredOwen]

Thank you for these videos! And thank you too Poland and other countries who are doing so much to help.

[Fanny-pfoz]

It's an unbearable thought to have to leave everything behind, including able-bodied men who are fathers, husbands, boyfriends, brothers and relatives themselves and those have to fight. I'm still safe in my own country, but it's so close.... With pandemic still causing havoc, these are certainly very "interesting" times. No such thing as planning security for months or years ahead. It makes more sense to go day by day. I've no idea what else the future has got in store.

[norbertkalina]

It would be nice to hear more about the other neighbour countries like Hungary and Romania. All my respect goes to Poland because most of the help is needed in there, but as i see in my country (Hungary) most of the people (dont forget that people is not equal with the goverment) try to help as they could. For example my home village is a 100km far from the Ukrainan border and in the first days we gave home for as many familys as we could and gave them everything that they needed. We dont need to be in the focus, cause that is not the reason of our work. Im just saying the it would be nice to hear about the other helping countries too.

[johnchessant]

Major props to Poland whose population was 38 million and is now taking in 2 million refugees

[superbod.]

I cried for 10 minutes straight.
As ukrainian i can say that video is VERY precise about situation and feelings.

[letsgoplayer]

I wish all my luck to the people in Ukraine hope they feel better

[TayaUkraine]

Honestly, this was a nightmare and I hope it ends soon. I went out of Ukraine from Kyiv, it took me 4 days! by car and then bus to enter Poland (by flight up to 2 hours max). I don't want to think I can't come back to my city 😢 So sad that in our 21st century starting a war can be an easy thing and the whole world watching...

[Madridm]

Prayers for the mans that stayed back to protect their home

[Alyeska]

Massive kudos to the men and women of the Ukrainian Railways for keeping the lines running and helping people in a time of need.

[katgor]

I'm from Moldova, over here it has been quite a struggle to support this many refugees especially compared to our population. At the very least even though most people speak romanian almost everyone knows russian to a certain degree, same thing for ukrainians, this makes communication easy. An unfortunate phenomenon is the circulation of stories of ungrateful refugees, I'm glad to say that most people realise that the vast majority of people are as thankful as they can get. Me and my family are personally hosting a family in our house and they are really nice people who really wish to not be a burden, I promise they are not.