'We have no choice': Man forced to leave wife and flee Ukraine with children

ITV News Correspondent Romilly Weeks interviews a Ukrainian man who was forced to flee his home with his children after Russia shelled his city

A Ukrainian man has told ITV News about the difficulty of fleeing with two young children and admitted he does not know how he will get his wife out of Russian occupied territory.

Vitali fled Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine with his one-year-old and three-year-old children after deciding "there's no chance to live there anymore."

He said the train station was difficult to navigate with his children because everyone was running from train to train without any form or organisation.

When he finally got on a train he and his children had to stand for 24 hours.

When asked how he is managing with his children, he simply replied "we have no choice."

"I have seen nothing, nothing on the scale that we are seeing here at Lviv train station"

Speaking from Lviv, he said his wife is currently in north Kharkiv, which is occupied by Russia and he said he did not know how to get her out.

Vitali added he had heard when some cars attempted to leave the area where his wife is they were shot at, and he doesn't want to risk that with her.

He says his plan is to move to Poland if they will let him, but otherwise "we have no plans."

"We are glad that we left Kharkiv", he added, saying his children would ask "are they shooting?"

Only after they got past Kyiv did the shooting shooting stop, and then his "children became more alive because they didn't laugh before all day long they were in a very bad mood."

Vitali's story is only one of more than a million people who have fled Ukraine since the conflict began.

The UN has said more than 1.5 million people have fled from Ukraine into neighbouring countries since the conflict began, making it the fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War Two.

Listen to our podcast for the latest analysis from our teams