The Guardian view on Ukraine’s desperation: escaping Putin’s cruelty | Editorial

Hundreds of thousands are fleeing the vicious assault upon their country's independence. They need help

Ukrainians do not want to flee. They do not want to pack their lives into a suitcase. They do not want to crowd aboard packed trains that carry them away from their homes, or trudge for days with their children. They do not want to leave behind husbands and sons and parents. They do not want to begin again in a foreign country where they have nothing, far from those they love.

They go because they are under attack. They go because missiles are falling. They go because their sisters call to say that Russian soldiers have entered their towns. They go because they see what Vladimir Putin's war machine is already doing in Ukraine, and because they know what it has done before. They go because if they do not go now, tomorrow may be too late. They go because they must.