Ukraine people's relatives in Newcastle share the pain of the Russian invasion

"When you hear about the children, it's just so sad. Can you imagine? Children are being killed and they can't give them traditional Christian funerals. They're giving them mass graves. It's genocide," said Mrs Bazalej, of Cardiff near Newcastle in NSW's Hunter region.

Mrs Bazalej and husband Victor have Ukrainian heritage. Their parents were forced to flee Ukraine when the Russians invaded during World War II.

It's hard for them to believe that war is happening again.

Refugee children and their mothers were having to walk long distances through snow to get transport to cross the border to the safety of neighbouring countries.

"The kids often have one pair of wet shoes and the clothes they took with them. They've just walked for 10 to 20 kilometres through melted snow," she said.

Her cousins in Ukraine have recounted details of the invasion to her.

"People are fleeing the country, but the transport is bad. Many arrive at packed train stations cold and afraid, with no idea where they're going next. They need clothes and food. Some come in disoriented," she said.

"People are saying goodbye to each other, not knowing if they'll ever see each other again. It's mayhem. People never thought it would happen like that."

Refugees are fleeing from eastern to western Ukraine, before crossing the border to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Moldova. Poland is taking the most people.

"Poland is doing a very good job of feeding and clothing people, giving them health products and transport for free," she said.

"They're getting a lot of sympathy and help from the Polish people."

A cousin and her two daughters, aged 12 and 18, from Lviv in western Ukraine have temporary visas to come to Australia.

"Her husband has to stay behind," she said, adding that men aged 18 to 60 are not allowed to leave Ukraine."

Some refugees drive towards the border, but run out of fuel.

"Once the cars run out of petrol, they just dump them on the side of the road and walk," she said.

Some flee in the middle of the night, as the shelling goes on. Others take shelter in bunkers.

"Once the sirens go, they have to run. There are children crying, parents crying, disabled people and old people who can't walk but remember what it was like when the Russians invaded in the 1940s. The good part is it's different now to the 1940s when people didn't have phones or the way news travels now. Now people can see what's actually happening."

Despite that, some don't know who to trust.

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Mrs Bazalej has a cousin in Zaporizhzhia in eastern Ukraine, where the Russians shelled the largest nuclear power station in Europe.

"I rang her at the end of February and said there's a war going on. She said 'everything is normal, this is just American and Western fake news'. I said, 'no it's happening'. Four days later, they found it wasn't fake. She wrote back and said, 'I know what you mean now. Keep praying for us'.

"People are in fear. They don't know who is listening. These people have lived through communist regimes. There's a saying in Ukraine that 'the walls have ears'."

Some refugees arrive in western Ukraine in shock, having come from eastern zones where the Russians invaded.

"They've already had places bombed. They've seen people die on the street and been left behind. They cover them with a blanket and run," she said.

Those who stay are left to live with the horrors of war.

"They sleep in what they wear because, when the bombs come, they might have to run in the middle of the night to a shelter.

"It's cold and wet. Electricity is cut in a lot of places. They're using candles and batteries, but they eventually run out. It's getting worse."

Ukrainian people had formed human chains in front of tanks. In some cases, the tanks retreated because the soldiers "saw humans begging them to stop".

"Some of these soldiers must have had a heart because they turned the tanks around."

Other soldiers, though, have been spotted looting, shelling and burning houses.

"Towns are on fire. Everything is broken."

She said it was unbelievable that war had broken out, given that Ukraine became independent in 1991.

"People were happy. They thought everything was good. We're happy our parents are not alive to see this."