Mother fleeing from Ukraine with her son waits for transport at Nyugati station, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Budapest, Hungary March 3, 2022. /Reuters/Marton Monus
Mother fleeing from Ukraine with her son waits for transport at Nyugati station, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Budapest, Hungary March 3, 2022. /Reuters/Marton Monus
The UN says a million people have now fled conflict in Ukraine — warning the exodus could become the "biggest refugee crisis this century."
The numbers arriving in Hungary alone are thought to be more than 100,000.
Aid centers have been set up at border crossings — and thousands are now in the country working out what their future may hold.
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On arrival at the Beregsurany border crossings, Ukrainian refugees are driven by minivan to an aid center in a former primary school. They are given food, water, and fresh clothes. The former assembly hall has become a dormitory with mattresses and bedding.
Mayor Istvan Herka says his town needed to welcome those fleeing conflict with open arms. "We have a big border crossing station in Beregsurany. It was obvious that we had to set up a refuge here," he said, adding, "In the beginning, we didn't think that many people would come to the village, but we're seeing masses of refugees now."
But Hungary's border crossings are, for most people, just a temporary stop.
From the border town of Zahony is a direct Trainline to Budapest — from where hundreds plan to continue their journeys.
Angela Lymar is a school teacher from the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, traveling with her five-year-old granddaughter. "Fortunately, I came from a city not undergoing huge bombing or shooting, but sirens go on and off every day, people are sitting in basements and cellars. I'm lucky because my trip is with my granddaughter - we're traveling to Luxembourg to stay with kind relatives. I hope to return soon."
Refugees fleeing from Ukraine arrive at Nyugati station. /Reuters/Marton Monus
Refugees fleeing from Ukraine arrive at Nyugati station. /Reuters/Marton Monus
Budapest's municipality is also helping people, setting up facilitates, so refugees don't have to spend the night in the train station — the youngest arrival year is a two-week-old baby.
Local and international donations have also been pouring in to help the hundreds of thousands who've been displaced.
Andreii Cibulnyk is one of the volunteers working on the ground, who said he'd been "helping my parents who are here, and now I'm helping people arriving from Ukraine. It's pretty chaotic, I must say, but it's being helped by people who come to support — there's not much centralised, but we can cope."
Businesses and enterprises are also doing their bit to help. Many train services like SNCB and Deutsche Bann are offering free transport to those fleeing Ukraine to help them move from hubs like this one in Budapest to elsewhere in Europe.
It's been just days since Russia's military action started in Ukraine, uprooting the lives of citizens. The journey just to get here to Budapest is long — and the future still uncertain.