- After
Russia invaded, Oleksandra Kicha traveled acrossUkraine to reachPoland . - She shared photos of her journey, including a 11-mile walk in the dark and a crush at the border.
Oleksandra Kicha is one of the estimated one million Ukrainians who fled their country after Russia's invasion began.
She spoke to Insider about traveling across the country as air raid sirens rang out, witnessing a crush at the border, and being picked up by a stranger who had driven across four countries to help — all while worrying about the family she left behind.
This was her journey to safety in
Fled as sirens blasted
Kicha decided to leave Ukraine as sirens went off on February 25 — the day after Russia's invasion began.
That day, she grabbed what she needed, and ran four blocks across her home city of
"I ran very quickly," she said. "It was very, very unsafe."
"I wanted to take my favorite things: my shoes, my handbags. But I didn't have time, and I only took documents."
She shared footage with Insider of her building's basement on the day Russia's attacks started.
—Sinéad Baker (@sineadbaker1) March 4, 2022
She also shared footage taken from her window that morning. Air raid sirens can be heard going off incessantly.
—Sinéad Baker (@sineadbaker1) March 4, 2022
Kherson fell to Russian forces on March 2, becoming the first major city Russia seized in its invasion.
Insider has spoken to Kicha's brother, who is still in Kherson. He said he is safe but terrified.
Traveled across Ukraine
Once in Odessa, she traveled by train to Lviv, a city in western Ukraine close to the Polish border.
She said she waited two hours at the Odessa train station until someone was willing to sell her their ticket.
She was less lucky in Lviv — she said she tried to find a train to Poland from there, but they were all sold out. This video shows her waiting on a packed train platform in Lviv:
She eventually took a taxi to Papalam, a small Ukrainian village closer to Poland, she said.
—Sinéad Baker (@sineadbaker1) March 4, 2022
An arduous walk
From there, she walked 10.5 miles (17 kilometers) to Poland, Kicha said.
Kicha said she walked for four hours, with other people making the same journey. (After Russia's invasion, Poland announced that any Ukrainian escaping the conflict would be allowed in. Kicha had her passport on her.)
"The time passed very quickly, because I was stressed and in a panic," she said.
Some of it was in the dark. Her footage shows her walking with other Ukrainians close to the border:
—Sinéad Baker (@sineadbaker1) March 4, 2022
'It hurt so much I no longer had emotions'
She arrived at the Ukraine-Poland border on February 26, one day after her journey started. She said the line stretched for nearly half a mile and took her 19 hours to get through.
She said she was fueled by tea and sandwiches from volunteers, but her time wasn't all good.
"While I stood in line I saw terrible things," she said — including people fainting and fighting enough to draw blood.
She described a tightly packed crowd: "They pushed me so much I thought the organs inside my body would burst and my legs would break. It hurt so much I no longer had emotions."
The crush was so bad that "a Ukrainian border aimed a machine gun at Ukrainian citizens" to try to calm them down, she said.
"I cried without emotion, tears just flowed by themselves," she said.
Collected by a stranger
At the Polish border, a man named Henrik Bauer Hansen was patiently waiting for Kicha.
After Russia's invasion, he had driven from Oslo, Norway to Poland — via Sweden, Denmark and Germany — to offer supplies and transport for Ukrainians at the border, he told Insider. All of these countries are in the Schengen Area, which meant there were no restrictions on his movement between them.
Kicha showed Insider the messages she sent him while on the Ukrainian side of the border, warning that she would be stuck for hours. "No problem," he replied.
At this point, the two had never met before. They were put in touch by a mutual friend, they told Insider.
A friend of Bauer Hansen's knew he had gone to the border to help Ukrainian refugees, and put the two in touch.
Bauer Hansen told Insider that he was amazed by what he saw: "I saw cars with license plates from all of Europe! From Turkey to Norway and everyone in between!"
He said he walked to the border to register as a volunteer, and saw refugees walking over the border: "I went down there and saw smiling faces of relief. Some were crying in disbelief. Just so much emotions. I became little paralyzed by the situation."
He said he brought some people to stations, and some to airports. He said some were nervous to get into a stranger's car.
"I'm no hero," he said. "The true heroes in my mind are the Ukrainian people."
Henrik brought Kicha to a hotel near Warsaw's Chopin Airport.
From there, she flew to Paris, where her fiancé was already staying. (Like many other European countries, France said after Russia's invasion that Ukrainians did not need a visa to enter.)
She arrived February 27.
Future in Paris
Kicha said she is grateful to be in Paris, but can't stop thinking about her country and her family still in Ukraine.
"Now I'm completely safe but I'm constantly crying and constantly thinking about what's going on there," she said. "It hurts so much you can't even imagine."
She is waiting for her sister and her children to arrive from Kyiv.
She wants to find work in Paris — "I want help my family. They don't have food," she said — and hopes she and her fiancé can throw a fundraising event for her country.
"I want Ukraine to remain Ukraine," she said. "I hope for peace, to restore the building and streets."
"I just want peace and that all people be alive."