Five days of bombings and relentless travel forced a Russian software engineer, Mikhail, and his Ukrainian girlfriend to flee Kyiv for Hungary, arriving in Budapest.
The couple crossed the Zahony border crossing after hearing artillery fire crack across the sky, and they watched a convoy of military trucks escort civilians toward the border.
Mikhail told reporters at the border, "Unlike all the other people here, I am from Russia. I lived in Ukraine for about a year," and added that Russia would pay for its actions, insisting Putin should be tried.
The invasion, which began on February 24, 2022, has prompted sweeping sanctions by the US and EU, yet Russian forces continue to target Ukrainian cities, with Wednesday's bombings marking a new escalation.
After boarding the train to Budapest, the couple plans to apply for asylum at the Hungarian embassy and document the violence for international courts, hoping their testimony will aid future war crimes prosecutions.