Mothers leave prams at train stations for Ukrainian refugee parents arriving with nothing

Generous mothers left prams at a train station in Poland for Ukrainian refugee parents to use when they arrive with their children.

The gesture of solidarity with Ukrainian refugees was made at Przemysl railway station, with a photograph showing more than half a dozen strollers waiting to be used.

One Twitter user wrote: “Is there a more powerful force than motherhood?” while another wrote: “The most beautiful way to welcome a mother and her child.”

Amidst the bleakness of the war with Russia, people are holding onto small moments of hope.

Footage of a young girl singing ‘Let it Go’ from Disney’s Frozen in a bomb shelter was widely shared after it was posted on Facebook this week.

Marta Smekhova, who posted the clip, said: “From the first word in the [bomb shelter] came complete silence... everyone put their business aside and listen[ed] to a song by this girl who was just beaming light.”

Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine nearly two weeks ago, there have been over 1.7 million refugees fleeing war-torn Ukraine and neighbouring country Poland has taken in over one million Ukrainians, according to the UN Refugee Agency.

As the conflict intensifies, a wave of mothers and children have been leaving to seek refuge in other countries.

The desperation for safety was seen earlier this week when a Ukrainian mother sent her 11-year-old son on a 600 mile journey alone from Ukraine to the Slovakia border with just a phone number written on his hand.

Such are the scenes in devastated Ukraine where the UN have confirmed the deaths of 406 civilians and said a further 801 have been injured, though the real tolls are believed to be much higher.

Refugees face journeys full of uncertainty as eight civilians who were trying to evacuate died on Sunday including a family of two adults and two children in Irpin, a town near Kyiv, when relentless shelling fell.

In a video address on Sunday night, President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “They were just trying to get out of town. To escape. The whole family. How many such families have died in Ukraine.

“We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will punish everyone who committed atrocities in this war. On our land.”

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page