Yountville Man Describes Harrowing, 50-Hour Escape From Ukraine
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are trying to get out of their country to escape the Russian invasion. Some have made it out, but for many, leaving has been difficult, like Aaron Starr of Yountville who, along with his girlfriend, fled Friday.
By Monday, both were safe in Poland after a harrowing journey. Sitting in Warsaw, Starr says he was very lucky, after a 50-hour journey to get across the Ukrainian border to Poland.
For weeks, Aaron's mother, Debbie, had been urging him to have a plan to escape if Russia chose to invade. On Wednesday, Aaron hired a security guard.
"Thirteen hours later or something like that, the Russians started bombing Kyiv," Aaron told KPIX 5.
The guard began driving Aaron and his Ukrainian girlfriend Anna west toward the Polish border.
"It took us 4.5 hours to drive a normal distance of like 25 minutes to get out of Kyiv."
The couple got close to the border and then decided to walk after going only three miles in only 7 hours by car. Aaron and Anna walked 4.5 miles, with only one beanie and one glove between them, in frigid temperatures, to what they thought was the walking border.
"When we got there, we were like 'we can finally see it,' the border, and I took a picture and shared it and everyone was super happy and we were in this line to walk there. When we walked there — we realized that wasn't the border — that was the border for cars. Totally different than the border for people," said Aaron.
The lines seemed interminable among 10,000 people.
"Finally we get through and find another line. It was like a matryoshka doll of lines. And that line was even more brutal."
Aaron says there was only a handful of Ukrainian border guards and that people were scared, screaming and punching trying to get out of harms way. He says it is a real humanitarian crisis. He and Anna fought for every inch closer to Poland.
"If you weren't pushing and leaning forward, and literally, I would be staring at the ground for the slightest bit of free ground that I could put my foot forward. You counted your steps. I made a step, I made progress," he said.
Fifty hours later, they finally got their passports stamped in Poland and were greeted by offers of free food and free taxi rides by the Poles.
Aaron says he lost nearly five pounds trying to get out of Ukraine and that he and Anna are very, very lucky.
"Honestly, I'm just like really sad about my friends who are still there."