Ukraine’s railroad has become a lifeline for refugees.
All these stations are gateways to safety.
That lead to Lviv, which has become a vital way out of the country.
From here, most travel to Przemyśl.
A small Polish town 8 miles from the Ukrainian border.
Its train station has transformed into a relief center.
Inside, volunteers welcome the refugees
and offer them food as they figure out where to go next.
Many have brought their pets on the long journey.
But they've only brought as much as they can carry.
Like Maryna and her son
who spent the night here at the train station after leaving everything behind.
Daria spent six hours waiting in an underpass on her journey here.
Sisters Martina and Sabina were asleep in their homes when their city came under fire.
As Russia continues to move further into Ukraine,
this critical web of escape routes is increasingly under attack.
Making it harder and harder for millions of Ukrainians to escape the invasion.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th
more than 3 million people have fled their homes.
Nearly all of them are moving west
away from Russia and towards these countries over here.
And the vast majority, around 2 million
are going here, to Poland.
Most of them are women and children.
Ukraine is requiring most men between the ages of 18 and 60
to stay behind and encouraging them to fight.
Since the war began, Ukraine has closed its airspace to civilian flights.
And the roads have become increasingly dangerous.
Railway stations are the most important points in the country so far
because people can get on the train on the cities
and move to west and save their lives.
That’s Oleksandr Kamyshin.
He is in charge of a mobile command team that has evacuated
more than 2 million people by train.
We focus on different cities, depending on the bombing.
Once new cities are under shelling, we increase the capacity for the cities.
Things change so fast, Ukrainian Railways releases a daily schedule.
And so far, the most popular routes are Kyiv-Lviv, Kharkiv-Lviv, Dnipro-Lviv.
At the stations, people are packed into evacuation trains
and it’s in large part because of Oleksandr's policy.
All people who would like to leave the city can do it within one day.
So we finish the day with zero people on the railway station.
But it’s not just about getting on the train
the journey itself is getting more dangerous too.
On March 13th, Russian forces hit an evacuation train here
killing the conductor and stranding hundreds.
Further north, near Kharkiv, an undetonated bomb
landed right by the train tracks a few days earlier.
Ukrainian Railway workers had to defuse and remove it.
Damaged tracks like these, can temporarily stop escape routes.
We got the greatest team of infrastructure professionals
who start repairing the track once the bombing stops
and they do it in hours, not days.
But bombed bridges, like this one, can shut them down permanently.
The areas over here, where Russia is fighting for control
are especially dangerous for trains to reach.
As a result, most of these stations shut down, soon after the war began.
Including Mykolaiv.
The port city Martina and Sabina fled.
Their parents drove them to Odesa, where the train station was still operating
so they could make it to Lviv.
Poland has become the top destination for refugees
because it has a very long border with Ukraine.
It’s also culturally and linguistically similar
and already has over a million Ukrainians living and working in the country.
But it’s also because soon after Russia invaded Ukraine
the EU did something unprecedented.
“Europe will be there for them
not only in the first days but also in the weeks and months to come."
They agreed to activate this directive, which provides temporary protection.
It was first issued in 2001
after a decade of wars in Southeastern Europe
displaced millions of people.
The directive allowed for temporary protection for people fleeing from non-EU countries.
But it was never invoked.
Until now.
What the Temporary Protection Directive offers
is a range of rights that are applicable immediately.
And these include residency rights
right to have access to the labor market, right to healthcare,
social protection, but also right to education.
What is also notable is that this mechanism was adopted by all the EU member states.
This means that the millions of people fleeing Ukraine
can continue on to any of the 27 EU countries with these protections
for up to three years.
This is a testimony to the large scale of the crisis that we're seeing now in Europe.
But despite this directive, not all seeking refuge
have been treated the same way on the ground.
Many non-Ukranians have experienced racism as they’ve fled.
Reports include being pushed to the back of the lines at the border
and being turned away at hotels.
In Przemyśl though, thousands keep arriving every day.
For many refugees arriving in Przemyśl, this is just the first stop out of Ukraine.
Martina and Sabina have family in Poland to help them get started.
But the vast majority will go on to reception centers
or move deeper into Europe and farther away from home.
Some people cry, some people smile.
Some people are happy. Some people are not happy.
But finally, all the people who left the cities, which are shelled
they can sleep, at least in the calm place and without the bombing.
That's the most important thing we keep in mind.
That gives me the understanding that we do right job.