Thread by @lewis_goodall

Polish firemen packing milk and clothing for refugees outside the railway station at Przemysl, the border town just west of Ukraine. Local residents have turned out in droves to donate. #UkraineWar

Local officials tell us there’s too much right now- the cars are all full up. But thousands and thousands more are expected today.

We’re told typically you’d expect about 3000 people crossing the border- yesterday was north of 25000.

Supplies of water too

Hundreds of people waiting in the elegant surroundings of Przemysl station. It’s chaotic. Weirdly incongruous with the surroundings. But of course, places like this, at such a European crossroads, have seen scenes like this before. But never thought they would again.

Local fire brigade co-ordinating free onward transport from the station. Local residents are turning out to offer lifts for arrivals.

Hundreds of people, including families waiting for the next train to come in. One woman has just arrived with her 8 year old boy who needs medical care. Over 500 were on a tiny train. There were no working toilets on board, kids had to pee in bottles.

Bear in mind we’re only really seeing the numbers from western Ukraine right now. Many fleeing further east have simply been stuck or making painstakingly slow progress. Assuming the war continues we’ve barely seen the tip of the iceberg.

For example we just spoke to a woman who has taken 1.5 days to make a journey which would normally take a few hours.

The levels of generosity here from the central and Eastern European nations and peoples is something to behold. Just spoke to a Ukrainian woman who has lost her grandmother & brother. A man has travelled from Prague to take her to Czechia and family. He doesn’t even know her.

Train station full of recent arrivals, mainly women, children and elderly waiting to be processed. One family we spoke to have been travelling for a week. Some have been standing on this train for over 20 hours.

A lost little girl on the platform, being helped by the train guard and Polish Scouts, who are helping coordinate aid.

Refugees fleeing from a modern European warzone. Put it in black and white it could be 80 yrs ago. A 19yr old told me her family had made her leave them in Lviv (a 1.5 day journey which would normally have taken a few hours): “so if the worst happens, at least one of us is left.”

Polish aid operation in full swing. Asking on the tannoy for older people to come forward first for food and medicine. Biggest car hire company in Poland is offering free hires for people offering to provide transport to refugees.

This gentleman is also offering free transport for refugees, with a free message for someone else.

The trains aren’t only full of people coming out of Ukraine. We’ve spoken to people here who are going into Ukraine-mainly Ukrainian men from abroad who are going back to their fight for their country. One told me: “I’m not afraid to die. I have to do this. There isn’t a choice.”

We’ve been told of Ukrainians coming to fight from as far afield as Canada (where there’s a huge Ukrainian population).

People here offering free travel to as far as Estonia. That’s a 850 mile drive.

You’d think this would be a queue for a train out of 🇺🇦. It’s not. It’s for the next train to Lviv. Why? some journalists. But also Ukrainian men living abroad (or who were abroad) when the invasion began going to fight. And Mums who weren’t in the country going to get their kids

For example, we spoke to this group of Ukrainian women. They were all on a holiday together to Spain when war broke out. Each of them has kids in Lviv and Kyiv and beyond. All of them have been trying desperately to get back to 🇺🇦since war broke out. It’s taken them all week.

One of the incongruous things about this station is that amid the chaos there is glorious, grand and quite still restaurant just inside.

Train from Lviv, full of people about to get off

Scores and scores of people waiting at Przemyśl to try and glimpse their families on a train which is packed to bursting.

It’s hard to imagine what this journey must have been like. And they’re the lucky ones.

What astounds me when I look at these thousands of people is that none of them would be here, endured this journey, had these searing experiences, had their lives transformed, if it weren’t for the choices of one man. The power of the politics he has chosen is breathtaking.

There are so many supplies here which people have donated and more seem to arrive every minute. The local mayor has actually asked people to stop bringing things, as you can see, the station is rapidly running out of space to put them.

Not least because Europe had convinced itself it had left the era of “great man” power politics behind. Virtually everyone I spoke to had a deep loathing for Putin (though notably not Russians). One 20 yr old woman told me if she had the chance she’d “kill him with my own hands.”

These are people who never imagined they’d be refugees. A week ago they were living entirely typical lives. They never really believed Putin would do what he’s done, hence so many being away from Ukraine on work trips, holidays etc and now desperately trying to get back.

Been lots of discussion on here about discrimination to non-whites at the border. I didn’t see any discrimination myself today (there were non-whites being let through) but of course it doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. Talking to some Poles there is an awareness that…

…Ukrainians are being treated v differently in this crisis compared to say the Syria crisis, or those at the Belarusian border. One Polish man, who was waiting to give people lifts, told me he thought there was some racism at play. Also a sense of closeness to the Ukrainians…

…which isn’t there with those who are from further afield. There is a sense a Slavic solidarity, despite the real tensions which have existed between Poles and Ukrainians over the years. And of course, as one man said to me, a common foe in the Russian state: “we know it could…

“…so easily have been us. It has been us.”

That solidarity is on full display throughout the city of Przemyśl (and such a handsome city, at that).

This is a place at the confluence of peoples, history and empires. This town was sieged in WW1 when part of the Austrian-Hungarian empire (by Russians). Then fought over by Ukrainians and Poles in the interwar years. Then this river was the border between the Reich and…

…Soviet Union after carving Poland in WW2 (until Barbarossa). It’s used to its fair share of refugees, war and great power politics. Everyone hoped and probably assumed that they wouldn’t return, two decades into the 21st century.

What we’ve seen is just the start. We could be looking at a crisis of millions. Something to remember- they all hope and expect to go home and quickly. They don’t want to settle. Just somewhere to be safe for now, until they can go back, to the country they love and lament.

Closing up this thread for today. More of all this on tomorrow’s @BBCNewsnight.