After six days sheltering in the basement of their home from the bombing in Kharkiv, elderly couple Anatolii and Teniana Lobanov finally made a move.
"I took my decision that that's enough because we need to get out of there," Mr Lobanov, 70, said, translated by his Australian Ukrainian daughter.
"My wife was deeply distressed. She didn't want to leave, but I had to make a decision and said, 'Right, we're leaving.'"
Taking only what they could carry, they went out into the street on March 2 and hailed down the first car that would give them a lift to the local railway station.
It was the first leg of a four-day journey to meet their daughter in Berlin, made possible by a chain of volunteers linking Ukraine's cities to the outside world that's already helped many of the more than 2 million people that have fled the country.
'This is a way we are changing the world'
Kyiv resident Oleg Sashchenko, 33, is one of the links in that chain.
He and a small group of friends find drivers to take women, children and elderly people to the Polish border, and then people in Poland who could accommodate them.
He said so far they had helped well over 200 people find transport.
The small network also uses its members' experience in logistics and international contacts to act as a go-between for foreigners who want to donate things like medical supplies to people in Ukraine who need them.
Mr Sashchenko said their philosophy was that with limited resources there was only so much they could do.
"So we decided, OK, we can't do everything, we cannot change the world like that, but we can do small things for different people, and this is a way we are changing the world by doing small actions," he said.
'I want to help in another way'
Artem Mokrenets is another link in the chain of volunteers.
He can be found at night wearing a high-vis vest at the main entrance to the train station in Lviv, providing information to new arrivals about how to catch one of the trains to Poland or where to go to find shelter until morning.
He said the new refugees came from all around the country and were often unprepared, terrified and exhausted after travelling for up to 20 hours standing or sitting on the floor on crowded trains.
There were three train services running to Poland, but the wait could be all day and night, he said.
"So I explain to them that there is this free train if you're ready and able to wait, but if you are not ready, if you're hungry, we can organise shelter for you, you will stay there until the end of curfew and then you can go and decide what to do," he said.
Mr Mokrenets, who normally works as an interior designer, told the ABC he had left his home in Kyiv last month when the war started and wanted to help other displaced people.
"It's not my dream job. Of course, I want to help in another way."
'We walked into absolute bedlam'
The chain of volunteers doesn't end at Ukraine's border.
Thousands of people in Ukraine's neighbouring countries and across Europe have stepped up by offering donations, accommodation or transport.
Among them is Australian expat Daniel Russell who has lived in Poland for the past eight years and has started doing regular runs to the Polish border and into Ukraine to deliver supplies and pick up refugees.
When he spoke to the ABC on Wednesday, Mr Russell and fellow Australian, Roger Scott, had made four trips and transported about 20 people.
"We went over the border two nights ago and we walked into absolute bedlam," he said.
"I've never seen anything like it. There was absolute chaos on the Ukrainian side, about 15,000 people there, refugees, trying to get out and trucks and buses just overloaded and overcrowded.
"They started spilling out into the oncoming traffic and filling up the wrong lanes and there were cops and police, kids and mums screaming, and they sort of lost all law and order."
The Ukrainians he had helped were holding up well despite being damaged and traumatised, he said
"Obviously, they've all seen some pretty hellish stuff. They're trying to rationalise what's going on in their world, when nothing makes sense, so the poor refugee cobs are a bit fragile," he said.
"But the ones that we've picked up have all have been amazingly resilient and empowered to get over the border to begin a new life.
"They've been quite chirpy and there have been some riveting conversations and we've all become pretty good friends towards the end of the journey back to Warsaw."
He said their efforts were being assisted by an Australian crowdfunding campaign and the biggest challenge had been the Polish logistics and lack of funds raised.
"Logistics is a bloody nightmare with transporting equipment and supplies through borders, especially this," he said.
"We need to sweet talk the guys to get us over the border, and now coming back as well is another big problem."
Mr Russell said their next trip would involve dropping off some shoes and gloves to a military unit and also doing a firewood run.
"All the border areas, they're running out of firewood — they have got massive bonfires there — and people will just freeze without it," he said.
'We need to create the world we want to live in'
Eleanor Busby, a volunteer from Leipzig in Germany, is using her small campervan to help people in Lviv and transport refugees to Poland.
Ms Busby said they were using donations from people on social media to fund medical supplies.
As they journey through Lviv to Poland, the wait at the border is long and can take up to 24 hours.
They cram the small campervan, but it can only fit 12 people. Ms Busby said there were not enough buses or drivers to take all the refugees, leaving many people to walk across the border in the cold.
To warm the refugees, they serve tea and coffee and bring children into the campervan to take turns to get warm.
"With our small stoves we can only make six litres of tea in 20 to 30 minutes, but this disappears in two minutes," she said.
"We did not think this situation would be this bad because we thought other humanitarian aid [groups] would have this covered, but they don't.
"It's incredibly hard to ask them [children] to get off so others can warm up."
Her experience in volunteering has been scary and sad, but also meaningful.
"We need to create the world we want to live in," she said.
Now safe in Belgium where his daughter, Anna Simenonidis, has been living, Mr Lobanov said he didn't know how he and his wife would have made it without all the volunteers.
"They provided food, shelter and information," he said.
"We were given SIM cards [and they] coordinated the logistics, who goes where sort of things.
"It was an enormous help from the volunteers."
Ms Simenonidis said they have one more leg of their journey to go — a flight to Australia.
"So the plan is to send them over to Australia and try to get them settled there, because at the moment, there is no way of returning anywhere," she said.
