Ukrainian woman crushed to death after crowd goes out of control at Poland border

A Ukrainian woman is believed to have died while she was attempting to flee the war-torn country to Poland. The woman was allegedly crushed to death when the massive crowd at the border became uncontrollable.

A 44-year-old man called Jeremy Myers has claimed that he witnessed the incident, and added that it was absolute chaos when tens of thousands of Ukrainians gathered at the borders.

"Fights broke out as people accused others of pushing in or of hurting them. People had blood running down their faces. We saw a couple of women fainting and being carried above the crowd," Myers told The Daily Mail.

As many as 150,000 people have fled from Ukraine to other neighbouring countries since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last week, per the UN refugee agency.

"There was very little organisation and the closer you got to the front, the more people were pushing and shoving. Every so often there would be these big surges and people would be screaming," added Myers.

'It was beyond unsafe. I have got bruises on me from all the pushing and I am just pleased that we finally managed to make it to Poland," he added.

Several images and videos of Ukrainians have gone viral on social media where Ukrainian citizens can be seen dragging their children along in an attempt to rush to the borders.

"And there was a strong rumour that someone had been crushed to death – the Polish border guards confirmed they had heard it was true," said Myers.

Since the government has banned men between 18 and 60 from leaving the country, most of these people who rushed to the borders included women, children, and elderly citizens.

Poland has declared its borders open for all Ukrainians fleeing the war, even for those who have no documents or proof showing that they are not Covid positive. Even Hungary is accepting all Ukrainians. "We're letting everyone in," said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine have decided to hold peace talks at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border with zero pre-conditions. "We are going there to listen. And we are going there to say what we think of this war and Russia's actions," said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, according to a report in VOX.