More than half of all the Ukrainian refugees fleeing West pass through Lviv on their way to Poland. But around 200,000 of them remain in the city, putting an enormous strain on authorities here. CGTN Europe's Michael Voss went to visit a family who escaped from one of Ukraine's worst hit regions and heard their harrowing tales of how the Russians occupied their town.

It's supper time in the Horon household but now there are four more mouths to feed. 

Roman Lysovych, his wife and two children fled embattled Irpin, a town on the outskirts of Kyiv, and are now staying with distant relatives in Lviv.

Their home was shelled and Roman is still haunted by memories.

"Russian troops with all their tanks, armored vehicles and military equipment started taking positions near private houses, in people's gardens as well as between apartment blocks. From the house we stayed in with my parents and four other people I was able to see them breaking into people's homes, checking if anybody was there," Lysovych told me as we sat around the kitchen table.

He then went out onto the balcony for a cigarette. He told us he had given up smoking some time ago but started again after Russian soldiers broke into their house and held them at gunpoint. 

"Three Russian soldiers went down to a basement we stayed in. They pointed their guns at us and asked us to go upstairs. Then they started checking our passports. For some reason, they thought we were some American spies.”

"When they realized there were only tourist visas from Egypt and Turkey in our passports, they seemed relieved. At this moment, I asked them for cigarettes to release tension. They gave me those and that's how I started smoking again,” he said.

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Before the soldiers left they looted some of their possessions.

His daughter, 13 year old Stefaniia, is still haunted by the memory of the Russian soldiers in their house.

"When we were in the basement, the Russians took away our phones and smashed them. Then they pushed the children back into the basement and made our parents go upstairs. I didn't know what happened to my mum and dad. I was really terrified.”

They wanted to stay but it became too dangerous as Roman's wife, Olha, recalled.

"After five or six days without heating or electricity, we couldn't even cook. We knew it was impossible to stay. We asked a Russian soldier if we could leave and he said we had 30 minutes to pack and go."

"Then we walked according to the directions the soldiers gave us until we reached a place where Russian positions ended. While walking, we basically had no idea where were going." 

The family finally made it to the makeshift river crossing at Irpin. They were part of the exodus that managed to cross the wooden plank that spanned the water. The main bridge had been blown up early in the conflict by Ukrainian forces to prevent tanks crossing towards the capital Kyiv.

First they went to Kyiv then eventually made their way to the safety of Lviv.

Now they are sharing an apartment with the Horon family in a high rise complex on the outskirts of Lviv. There are five in the family, the Horons, their two children and her father. The three adults now share a single bed.

Everyone does manage to fit around the kitchen table. The two Horon children have given up their room to their guests. On the floor are a few plastic bags and a backpack, their entire worldly possessions now.

Olha Horon invited them to stay and is now trying to stretch her budget to feed everyone.

She burst into tears when I asked her why she had opened her home and heart to these distant relatives.

"I just really love them. They are my family and we have to stay together. I can't even imagine how devastated I'd be if they died... I was praying for them all the time. It's a miracle that they were able to get out of there alive," she told me.

Roman has left his parents behind. There's no phone contact so he is constantly searching social media for images of home. He has already seen the body of one neighbor lying bloody in the road. In another is a shot-up or shelled taxi with both the driver and a woman in the back he knew, both dead.

The children have adopted a stray puppy, a huge comfort in their time of need, but 11 year old Oleksandr finds the memories hard to bear.

"I just want to go home," he told me.

There may no longer be a home to go back to.