Manc among thousands of refugees stranded at Ukraine border describes the devastation as war erupts

A Manchester man is among thousands of refugees stranded at a Ukrainian border post as people flee the Russian invasion.

Jez Myers, 44, and his girlfriend Maria Romanenko, 29, spent ten hours driving in a friend's Vauxhall Astra from the under-fire capital Kiev to Lviv in the west then to Shehyni at the border with Poland.

Jez, a business consultant from Reddish, has described growing tensions as the queue to cross into Poland increased to 'tens of thousands', with some chanting 'open the door' in a desperate bid to exit Ukraine.

"We're tired but we're safe - that's main thing," Jez told the M.E.N. on Friday afternoon.

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"There are tens of thousands in this queue. The lack of facilities here makes things very tricky. We're trying not to eat or drink because you cannot escape anywhere," he went on.

"Spirits here range from quite happy and positive to being angry and frustrated. There's no crowd control what-so-ever here. Occasionally you'll hear 'let the children through - open the gates'."

Most of the refugees were international students rather than Ukrainians, he said.

"They're generally from all over. Like me they've made this huge journey across the country to be here and get out at the only possible exit," said Jez.

He said he and his girlfriend had been 'very lucky' and not seen any conflict.

Jez added: "What's happened is absolutely devastating for this country.

"They haven't received the support they need. They have received weapons and there are sanction but they are not going affect things immediately."

Jez has split his time between his home city and Kyiv, where his Ukrainian partner lives, since 2018.

He was due to