Associated PressAssociated Press
Margot, 15 years-old, refugee fleeing the conflict from neighbouring Ukraine holds her dog inside a tent at the Romanian-Ukrainian border, in Siret, Romania, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
A refugee fleeing the conflict from neighbouring Ukraine holds a child inside a tent at the Romanian-Ukrainian border, in Siret, Romania, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
A refugee fleeing the conflict from neighbouring Ukraine holds her pet cat at the Romanian-Ukrainian border, in Siret, Romania, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
A refugee fleeing the conflict from neighbouring Ukraine holds her child's hand inside a tent at the Romanian-Ukrainian border, in Siret, Romania, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
A refugee fleeing the conflict from neighbouring Ukraine holds her pet cat at the Romanian-Ukrainian border, in Siret, Romania, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
Emergency Situations Department employees talk to wheelchair user Katia, 90 years-old, a refugee fleeing the conflict from neighbouring Ukraine at the Romanian-Ukrainian border, in Siret, Romania, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
A refugee fleeing the conflict from neighbouring Ukraine enters a tent at the Romanian-Ukrainian border, in Siret, Romania, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
Refugees fleeing the conflict from neighbouring Ukraine warm up inside a tent at the Romanian-Ukrainian border, in Siret, Romania, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
Emergency Situations Department employees talk to wheelchair user Katia, 90 years-old, a refugee fleeing the conflict from neighbouring Ukraine at the Romanian-Ukrainian border, in Siret, Romania, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
Margot, 15 years-old, refugee fleeing the conflict from neighbouring Ukraine holds her dog inside a tent at the Romanian-Ukrainian border, in Siret, Romania, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Life or death choices can leave little time for sentiment. War refugees fleeing Russian bombardment in Ukraine only had the essentials for their journey to safety: key documents, a beloved pet, and often not even a change of clothes.

The first explosions in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, signaled the feared Russian invasion.

She said that they took only their daughter, dog, and documents, and left with only their clothes on their backs.

We left everything. We don't know what will happen.

Her daughter cradled the family toy in the safety of a refugee camp in the border city of Siret, Romania.

More than one million people have fled the country since the beginning of Russia's invasion, according to the U.N.-affiliated Organization for Migration. According to the U.N., the number of refugees could swell to 4 million, making it the biggest crisis this century.

Most have arrived in Poland and other European Union countries, with the bloc granting people fleeing Ukraine temporary protection and residency permits. Some people are starting to travel to other countries.

More than 100,000 people have arrived in Slovakia and many are planning to continue to the Czech Republic. Thousands of children will be taught in their native Ukrainian by the Czech authorities.

Hundreds of people arrive by train in Berlin. More than 10,000 refugees have arrived in Italy, 40% of them children, with the education ministry indicating plans to get them into classrooms so they can integrate.

Iryna wanted to be light for the journey from Chernivtsi, across the Carpathian Mountains in southern Ukraine, just 40 kilometers away, and what seems like a lifetime away. In better times, her home city drew young people from the university whose 19th century architecture won it a spot on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

She stroking the child sleeping in her lap.

She brought Polaroids instead of her belongings because they would have weighed her down. Her daughter's 10th birthday, a photo with her husband, who she left behind as Ukrainian men of military age, are banned from leaving the country.

The Ukrainian woman traveled to Hungary. She bought traveling cages for her cats a month ago as the U.S. intelligence indicated Russia's intention to invade. After hearing her neighbors had been killed by Russian forces, she decided to leave.

She said she wanted to go back to Hungary, but her priority was her family and pets.

In Chisinau, a non-EU nation tucked between Ukraine and Romania, hundreds of Roma families are being welcomed at a sports venue.

Maria Cherepovskaia walked the first 15 kilometers from her home in the eastern Russian-controlled enclave of Donetsk. She received help from people to make the rest of the journey.

We will be here until the war is over. We don't know where to go. A lot, too much, what can we do?

There is a

In Tiszabecs, Hungary, and Chisinau, Moldova, there are people who contributed.

There is a

Follow the AP's coverage of the Ukraine crisis.

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