Ukrainian refugees in Spain recall life-or-death decision to flee

Ukrainians refugees told Yahoo News they're "in shock" about the Russian attack on their country.

Video Transcript

MARYNA BILOKIN: We go out of Kyiv 25 February. And we'll go through the border of Poland. We go four days.

- You waited-- you had to wait at the border for four days?

MARYNA BILOKIN: Yes. Yes, from Lviv to border and Poland, four days. Of course, it will be very much a car. Yeah?

- Yeah.

MARYNA BILOKIN: Yeah. And then after Poland, volunteers put us with my daughter, and we go to Spain.

- And when you were in the line, the cars waiting to get into Poland, were people--

MARYNA BILOKIN: People helped. People helped.

- Did they bring you food?

MARYNA BILOKIN: Yes. Yes. People helped. Food and toilet, and if you-- what you need, they help.

- And they sort of make caravans too, yes?

MARYNA BILOKIN: Yes. Yes.

- Several people? OK. Did you leave in your car?

MARYNA BILOKIN: Yes. We leave in the car with my friend, family. Go to embassy, and they find us a family who take us, and we live in here.

- That's nice.

MARYNA BILOKIN: And they're very, very kind family.

After the night, we decided we have to go because I have daughter. I worry about it. But in Kyiv, I stay my aunt and my mother.

- They're

MARYNA BILOKIN: Still there? They don't want to go now.

- So they are still there? Are you trying to get them out or they don't-- they just don't want to leave? I'm sorry.

MARYNA BILOKIN: I don't know what have I to do now. I want to-- I'm going to stay here because I can't go to my home, and I want to-- [NON-ENGLISH].

- Find a job?

MARYNA BILOKIN: Find a job and do my life, new life in Spain.

You have no choice. You have no choice. If you will die and your family, and if you safe without nothing, without-- and people chose life.

IRA LUZINA: I came to Spain on January 31 in Barcelona, and I came here because I was reading the news and I was following the news. And it looked like everything is escalating, and I was very worried about if I should leave the country, and I was thinking about that for some time. And also I saw Russians getting more and more troops near the border, and since I'm from Kyiv, I saw that they're in Belarusian border, and this border is very close to Kyiv. It's like two hours by car. So I realized that they will be very-- they will be focused on getting Kyiv, and so I'll be-- have no time-- have no time to escape.

And the second reason is I have a friend in Barcelona, and she was constantly writing to me like you have to get out of there because she was also following the news-- international news. And so she was kind of pushing me to get out of Ukraine, and she also offered to stay with her in her apartment. So that's why I had not only kind of concerns that I have to leave but I also had an option. Where can I go? Where can I stay?

So my plan was to go here, to stay here for a month. If everything is fine, I'll be home on March 1. That was the plan, and it didn't work.

I do feel guilty of leaving Ukraine. My people are there. My family is there. My friends are there, some of them. They're all around the-- all around Ukraine. Some of them are in bomb shelters. And my family is there. I'm really worried about them, and I do feel like I can do nothing just sitting here. And there's a part of my brain that keeps telling me that if I was there, I would be more helpful. I don't know how, but it's kind of subconscious maybe thing that you have to be with your people. You have to help.

Some of the people I know personally stay in bomb shelters during the night. Some go home and stay there. Some don't leave their home, just stay in apartments. Lots of them moved from Kyiv and Kharkiv to safest places, but there is no safe place in Ukraine from my personal opinion. I just-- it feels like Russia has, you know-- I cannot compare this kind of cruelty and violence to anything I've ever seen and experienced. And I think they can bomb any city, any village at any moment.

So yeah, my father is in Enerhodar, which is the Zaporizhzhia region. It's a town. It's occupied, and the nuclear power plant that is also in this town is also occupied by Russian, and Russian and Chechen military are staying there. They have no connection. My father has no mobile connection, no internet. There are food shortages. I know that. They had problems with water, electricity, and all that.

So I'm trying to get-- to reach them and trying to, you know, help some of my relatives to move to the safest places. But, you know, it's complicated.

I am here temporarily-- I hope so-- that I stay here, and once, you know, the war-- the aggressive part of war stops and they open the sky, you can fly back. I fly back to Kyiv and help restore and all that. I'm really looking forward to go home, honestly.