'Please stay,' the border soldier says as we flee Ukraine

The writer, Edward Cowley (left), and his friend Nick Draycott in front of Taras Shevchenko monument in Lviv, Ukraine, on March 3, 2022. PHOTO: NICK DRAYCOTT FOR THE STRAITS TIMES
Refugees from Ukraine arrive in Poland on March 1 after a four-day ordeal in freezing temperatures of -5 degrees Celsius. PHOTO: NICK DRAYCOTT FOR THE STRAITS TIMES
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KRAKOW, Poland - We arrived in Krakow, Poland, from Britain, on the morning of Feb 28, four days after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an all-out war on Ukraine.

Our mission was to try and enter Ukraine, meet up with my girlfriend Svitlana and help her leave the country for safety.

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