As the Russian Army bears down on Ukraine from the north, south and east, a mass migration of millions of civilians is gathering like a storm over the plains.
But the international border gates are a painful filter, splitting families apart. The Ukrainian government has mandated that men aged 18 to 60 are not allowed to leave the country, so the crowds pouring into Poland, Hungary and other neighboring nations are eerily devoid of men. It is almost exclusively women and young children who pass through the checkpoints after heartbreaking goodbyes. The Ukrainian men, whether they want to or not, turn back to fight.
Some Ukrainian women referred to the separations as “a little death.”