Mounds of abandoned clothes and other personal items lie strewn along corridors leading out of Ukraine.
The farther people carry their things, the harder it is, so they leave them behind, said Ludmila Sokol, a gym teacher fleeing Zaporizhzhia in the south.
But their pets, they keep alongside them.
Everywhere amid the exodus of more than 2.3 million people fleeing Russia's invasion are the pets people could not leave behind: birds, rabbits, hamsters, cats and dogs.
People fleeing the outskirts of Kyiv crowded together under a destroyed bridge, carrying little luggage and abandoning their vehicles on the road.
But their pets remained with them.
Victoria Trofimenko said she felt an obligation to keep not only her family but her pets safe.
The 42-year-old had originally never planned to leave Kyiv, she said days after the war started.
But as the missiles and explosives rained down she thought about her duty to protect her 18-year-old daughter, 69-year-old mother — and her dog, Akira, and cat, Galileo.
She bought train tickets to head west, eventually ending up in Prague. She said she first arrived in Hungary, though, and was grateful to have Akira by her side for protection.
In Lviv, Olha and her family were approaching the Polish border with their dog Yoga in tow.
She said when it came time to leave, there was no doubt Yoga would be making the journey with the family.
"And if they don't let us go further to Poland or anywhere without a dog, we'll stay here," Olga said of attempting to cross the border out of Ukraine with the family pet.
ABC/wires
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