From Kyiv, the DW Nick Connolly reports that there are still concerns about active Russian sleep agents who may be trying to destabilize the capital or undermine infrastructure.
“It is a desperate situation,” he said, describing the city of Mariupol, which has been besieged by Russian forces and no longer has a reliable internet connection to the outside world. Attempts to evacuate civilians are being thwarted by ongoing Russian fighting, Ukrainian authorities have said.
Connolly explains that there is now a huge amount of bad blood between Russian and Ukrainian fighters, with “too much anger, too much destruction” so that both sides can easily negotiate the safe passage of civilians without outside mediation.
Head of DW’s Brussels office Alexandra von Nahmen, citing from Lviv in western Ukraine, says many residents believe it is only a matter of time before war breaks out in their city. He says many Ukrainians are skeptical that it will be possible to evacuate residents from places like Mariupol after the ceasefire failed.
Over the weekend, he saw long queues of cars full of people waiting to cross the border into Poland.
Anna Phil has also made reports from Lviv, where he says the situation has worsened. Thousands of people crowded at the train station, waiting in a huge queue for a stop on a train heading west.
“People standing on it can not even say exactly where they are going,” he says. “They know there are trains going to Poland every two hours. They do not know in which city this train will take them, and it basically does not matter.” For these refugees, who have fled fighting and rocket attacks, wherever is best.
In the southwestern city of Chernivtsi, near the border with Romania, Fanny Fassar states that people are relatively safe. But they wonder if their lives will return to what they were before the Russian invasion. Many Ukrainians fleeing to Romania pass through this city in search of refuge.
Tessa Walther is located in Przemysl, Poland, where he has seen heartbreaking scenes on the border with Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands of women and children have fled to the neighboring country, leaving their husbands behind. “What people really need right now is a little time to rest, a little time to process what they have seen,” he says.
He says volunteers here “have come from everywhere”, from all over Europe and from India and Canada, to help, some working “24 hours a day”.
Monika Sieradzka was also in Przemysl, where he spoke to many frightened children who have seen the horrors of war up close. “A new generation of European refugees is transporting the baggage of trauma into their new lives,” says Sieradzka.
Report from Krakow, Poland, Max Zander met with refugees at a youth center that helps children forget their problems. He says people from all over Poland have come to his aid.
You can follow DW correspondents on Twitter at @dwnews
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