The fortunate arrive by car, the less so on foot, wrapped in blankets against the freezing temperatures, clutching bundled possessions from a homeland besieged.
The exodus of refugees from war-torn Ukraine continued Sunday into neighboring eastern European countries, mainly women leading children by the hand and infants in strollers. Some even had pets in tow.
They leave behind men aged between 18 to 60, who have been summoned to defend their sovereign nation of 44 million people. Ukraine was invaded by Russian forces on Thursday on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who on Sunday, reportedly put his nuclear deterrent on “special alert.”
Authorities in the nearby Romanian city of Suceava had moved quickly to set up mobile camps with tents, beds and electricity. Mothers with young children are being cared for at local monasteries. But the vast majority of help has been provided by ordinary Romanians aghast at the crisis that has unfolded so quickly across the border.
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