They came to visit family, friends.
Some arrived a few days before the outbreak of the war.
Despite the warnings of the impending conflict, despite the official calls to leave Ukraine - none of them believed that war would come.
Because even Ukrainian family and friends did not want to believe in this terrible possibility.
Then the war began, and they found themselves leaving the people dear to them and beginning to flee west, towards the sewer far from the battles, and thence to the border crossings with safe Europe.
Yesterday, on a rather short warning, they received a message from the Foreign Ministry's rescue team about a transfer that would take them to a border crossing with Poland, through which they would leave Ukraine without the hardships that awaited.
Documentation: A Russian attack near the TV tower in Kiev
Vahtang, 29, a native of Georgia, now a resident of the Krayot, came to Ukraine to visit good local friends.
"I did not think such a thing would happen, a war, one big mess," he says at the collection point near the Israeli consulate in Levib.
"I arrived in Dnipro on February 21, three days before the start of the war. I was there when the Russians started bombing. I went from there to Kiev. I have seen difficult things in recent days, including a woman giving birth in a shelter. I was in Kiev for three nights. She was on fire. Somehow we managed to get through it, because we had children with us. I was in the IDF, permanently.
But war is a scary thing.
dead people.
It's a poor people, really.
He tries to be good and is disturbed. "
"Ukraine is home too"
Yevgeny from Eilat, 36, stayed for a month with his parents who live in Kiev.
"I managed to get to Leviv already on Sunday. I did not experience the attacks in Kiev. My brother lives here. He stayed in Levib. I was already at the border, there are full of people and I could not cross. And today I received the message about the rescue transport. I have some food, but not beyond To it.
Yevgeny, an Israeli in Ukraine, Photo: Eldad Beck
"I realized they were helping us move quickly. My parents are staying in Kiev, they do not want to leave. They are already adults and I do not feel good about it, but I have nothing to do. I can not return to Kiev anymore, and I decided it would be better to return to Israel and try to help parents from there. "People do not believe. It's crazy. Ukraine is my home too."
Irena from Ramat Gan returned to live in Ukraine three years ago, to live with her boyfriend.
"Because of the war, I decided to go to Israel, otherwise I would have stayed. It was fun here," she says, with the municipal alarm system running again in the background.
"It is activated for hours on end, day, night, for no reason. Decided to keep the residents awake, but mostly manage to upset the nerves. Four days ago we left Kyiv. I have a lot of friends left in Kiev. I have relatives in Kharkiv and elsewhere. Too bad I have them. "
Marina, Powell and son Eric from Be'er Sheva, arrived in Zaporozhye in southeastern Ukraine to visit their grandmother, three days before the war began.
Marina and Powell immigrated to Israel in 1998.
"We heard that everything was fine and there would be no war," says Marina, adding that "we did not believe that war could happen. We left Zaporozhye by train. We were 12 people in a cabin in a caravan, where four usually sit. There were many students from India, and women and children trying to escape.
Marina, Powell and son Arik from Be'er Sheva, who are in Ukraine, Photo: Eldad Beck
"At four-thirty in the morning we arrived in Kiev, and then we heard alarms. The train was darkened. All the windows were closed. We were told to turn off all phones. We waited for two hours, then the train went back slowly, in the dark. We heard gunfire and alarms. From Kiev the train went on a different route. "It took 20 hours for Levib. It's hard to leave my parents behind and my brother there too. You never know what will happen. These thoughts make me cry. The parents do not want to leave and say this is our country. They believe it will be okay."
"A war does not lead to a good thing," adds 17-year-old son Eric, who was born in Israel. "He served in the Ukrainian army for 30 years, and he is not ready to leave everything and flee."
Crowds are waiting to board a train in Levib, Ukraine, Photo: Reuters
"In the current situation," says Father Powell, "there are many Ukrainians who are considering coming and fighting for their country. I also have such thoughts. There is a situation in which I will do so. If there is aggravation, I will consider returning."
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