Olha's dog Yoga has travelled with the family from central Ukraine to the Polish border. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
Mounds of abandoned clothes and other personal items lie strewn along corridors leading out of Ukraine.
Rami was outfitted for the cold weather as his owners travelled through Lviv to flee Ukraine. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
The farther people carry their things, the harder it is, so they leave them behind, said Ludmila Sokol, a gym teacher fleeing Zaporizhzhia in the south.
Aside from the many dogs being carried out of Lviv, refugees were also carrying cats as they fled the country. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
But their pets, they keep alongside them.
A Ukrainian refugee's dog Linda gets a view of her owner's journey out of the country from behind the mesh of a carry bag. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
Everywhere amid the exodus of more than 2.3 million people fleeing Russia's invasion are the pets people could not leave behind: birds, rabbits, hamsters, cats and dogs.
Among the cats and dogs, a white rabbit also made its way from Lviv. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
People fleeing the outskirts of Kyiv crowded together under a destroyed bridge, carrying little luggage and abandoning their vehicles on the road.
A woman holds a dog while crossing the Irpin River under a bridge. (AP: Vadim Ghirda)
But their pets remained with them.
A Ukrainian refugee comforts his dog as they sit in a ballroom converted into a makeshift refugee shelter at a 4-star hotel, in Suceava, Romania. (AP: Andreea Alexandru)
Victoria Trofimenko said she felt an obligation to keep not only her family but her pets safe.
A Ukrainian girl and her cat wait at the platform inside Lviv railway station in west Ukraine. (AP: Bernat Armangue)
The 42-year-old had originally never planned to leave Kyiv, she said days after the war started.
A woman from neighbouring Ukraine, sits with her dog at a train station that was turned into an accommodation centre in Przemysl, Poland. (AP: Petr David Josek)
But as the missiles and explosives rained down she thought about her duty to protect her 18-year-old daughter, 69-year-old mother — and her dog, Akira, and cat, Galileo.
A refugee holding her dog sits by the side of the road approaching the border with Poland in Shehyni, Ukraine. (AP: Daniel Cole)
She bought train tickets to head west, eventually ending up in Prague. She said she first arrived in Hungary, though, and was grateful to have Akira by her side for protection.
In Lviv, Olha and her family were approaching the Polish border with their dog Yoga in tow.
Olga described her dog Yoga as "our family, our baby." (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
She said when it came time to leave, there was no doubt Yoga would be making the journey with the family.
"And if they don't let us go further to Poland or anywhere without a dog, we'll stay here," Olga said of attempting to cross the border out of Ukraine with the family pet.
Julia Lazarets plays with her cat Gabriel, after fleeing Ukraine and arriving at the train station in Przemysl, Poland. (AP: Daniel Cole) A puppy in Siret peers his head from a pet carrier after his owner fled the conflict in Ukraine. (AP: Andreea Alexandru) A refugee holding a small dog gives a sip of tea to a toddler after fleeing the conflict into Romania. (AP: Andreea Alexandru) Ukrainian servicemen help a woman carrying a small dog across the Irpin River on an improvised path while assisting people fleeing the town of Irpin, Ukraine. (AP: Vadim Ghirda) Katya holds her two dogs after fleeing from Ukraine, at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland. (AP: Visar Kryeziu) An elderly woman who had collapsed with exhaustion comforts her dog in a ballroom converted into a makeshift refugee shelter, in Suceava, Romania. (AP: Andreea Alexandru) A couple talks after people rushed to board a Lviv-bound train in Kyiv. (AP: Vadim Ghirda)
ABC/wires
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