Ambulances lining up along the border, coaches brimming with broken families and the sound of children crying.
Those are just some of the bleak sights that met Jen Savaris and pal Jamie Whittaker when they touched down in Poland and rushed to the border with Ukraine on Tuesday (March 8).
The two brave Mancunians, who flew out with 160kg of supplies packed across six suitcases, have since spoken out about their harrowing experience since arriving at the border and supporting thousands of Ukrainian families fleeing the ongoing war.
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The pair, who own a foodbank and a restaurant in south Manchester, teamed up to bring much needed supplies and cash to civilians who are leaving their homes with nothing more than a few small bags of belongings. Many are elderly or mothers on their own with their confused young children.
And since arriving, Jen said they had been 'utterly shocked' at the sheer number of families that spent days crossing the border and those in desperate need of medical assistance, with pal Jamie now on his way to into dangerous Lviv alongside Norwegian volunteer paramedic Didrik, to pick up two girls with severe liver failure.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Jen, who first flew to Krakow with Jamie before they travelled to the border town of Medyka in a hired vehicle, said that the scenes have been 'heartbreaking'.
"We hired a vehicle and just went straight to Medyka, which is on the border with Ukraine, and we had all of our suitcases with us which were absolutely full of supplies. We didn't know where we were going, but arrived to a school which has been completely transformed into a registration centre, the first port of call for the thousands of people crossing the border," she said.
"There were loads of volunteers and lots of people from the Polish army there helping out, and we were given a list of things they needed including food and drinks and juice for the children. All you can hear is ambulances, children crying and luggage wheels. There are coaches arriving every second full of people, in their hundreds.
"You see it on the news and hear about it but it is only when you actually see it around you that you realise the number of people desperately fleeing Ukraine. These people are spending hours and days trying to cross the border. We even spoke to a Polish paramedic who held a baby which had died of hypothermia due to being outside for so long. It's just heartbreaking.
"So many people are desperately trying to get out of Lviv and there are miles and miles of queues. There is utter desperation on the Ukrainian side of the border."
Jen said that as many as 600 camp beds had been set up at the school sports hall in Medyka - where her and Jamie were making trips to the supermarket to get vital supplies. From here, they travelled to a large supermarket, which has been completely emptied and turned into a refugee centre with 'around 4,000' camp beds.
Jen herself hopes to travel across the border into Ukraine on Thursday and will hand out vital supplies to the thousands of families queuing up at the borders.
It was later that they met volunteer paramedics, who are speeding across to Ukraine to collect people in desperate need of medical help. Jamie offered to travel along with one of volunteers they met, Didrik, and collect two teenage girls that are currently close to death due to severe liver failure but cannot be looked after at their current hospital.
A video clip shared exclusively with the Manchester Evening News shows Jamie and Didrik attempting to drive through gridlocked traffic from Poland into Ukraine as they rushed to Lviv to collect patients from a hospital left devastated by the ongoing invasion.
"Hospitals are full to the brim and are quickly running out of supplies and don't have the capacity to look after all these people," Jen added.
"Jamie heard about two girls who are very ill due to severe liver failure and needed picking up urgently from a hospital in Lviv. So many people are being collected or treated by volunteers with ambulances driving into Ukraine and collecting them and bringing them back to Poland to be cared for.
"Jamie was told that driving into Lviv is essentially going into a warzone, and warned that it is dangerous, but he was willing to take the risk and has gone with them. Every day I am now just going back to the border and stocking up on supplies and getting whatever is needed.
"We hope to stay out here for the next few weeks or as long as we can to help and can keep raising money."
Originally, the pair had set a fundraising target of £10,000, however this has since been increased to £25,000 - as they aim to raise money to help repair a broken down ambulance that had been driven down by a volunteer paramedic from Norway.
You can help support them here.
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