Photos and videos of people fleeing cities in Ukraine on Thursday just resemble those captured during the fall of Kabul in mid-August last year, amid what the ex-Soviet country calls a full-scale Russian invasion.
The latest chaos unfolded as Russia launched the attack around the dawn despite President Vladimir Putin for months denying plans to do so.
Immediately after his pre-dawn TV statement, attacks were reported on Ukrainian military targets as the Russian military breached the border in the north, south and east.
According to reports, citizens were headed for underground metro stations to take shelter, as Ukrainian authorities declared martial law immediately after the invasion that killed dozens before evening.
Warning sirens blared across Kyiv, where traffic queued to leave. Crowds sought shelter in its metro stations, with several neighbouring countries initiating preparations to take in a large number of refugees.
Panicked residents in the capital city were also seen lining up in front of ATMs and gas stations. People queue to a petrol station in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv too, as one of the photos shows.
People were seen standing outside a destroyed building after bombings on the eastern Ukraine town of Chuguiv.
A son wept over the body of his father among the wreckage of a missile strike in Chuguiv.
"I told him to leave," the man in his 30s sobbed, next to the twisted ruins of a car. Nearby a woman screamed curses into the wintry sky.
Many Ukrainians started trickling into Poland, with dozens arriving at the normally quiet Medyka crossing on Thursday, some carrying luggage and accompanied by children.
Officials in European Union countries bordering Ukraine, including Romania and Slovakia, said there was no big influx of refugees for now, but local media and witnesses said foot traffic was increasing.
Alexander Bazhanov fled his home in eastern Ukraine with his wife and young child, taking only what they could carry and walking the final part of their journey into Poland.
The 34-year-old technical manager from Mariupol, 113 km from Donetsk, decided to cross into Poland when he learned the war had started from a colleague.
"I don't have any feelings other than that I am very scared," Bazhanov said at the pedestrian border crossing, about 400 km from Warsaw. "I will visit my father in Spain but I don't have any money and I don't know how I will do that."
Lines to enter the Polish border town grew during the morning. Some people said they feared Russia could push far into Ukraine.
"Everybody thought western Ukraine was safe because it was close to EU and Nato nations," said Maria Palys, 44, who was travelling with her family and that of her brother. "It seems like it is not the right protection."
News of the invasion spurred Olga Pavlusik and her boyfriend Bohdan Begey to rush to the border, leaving their dog at home in their town in western Ukraine. They have no destination in mind. "Anywhere safe will be fine," she told Reuters.
Meanwhile, countless others were seen waiting in the cold with their bags at the Hungarian border on Thursday, waiting for relatives living in Hungary to arrive and take them to safety.
Csaba Bodnar, 27, and his younger brother Tamas, both from the large ethnic Hungarian minority in western Ukraine, woke to the news of the invasion and set off immediately, fearing conscription into Ukraine's military.
"No one wants to get conscripted, no one wants to die," said Tamas. "It's clear that those who can, they flee."
The pair were among small groups of people leaving Ukraine at the Beregsurany crossing into Hungary, some coming from as far as Kyiv, more than 800 km to the east, after Russia invaded.
The brothers had planned to start work in Hungary from next week in the town of Komarom near the Slovakian border, but the attack accelerated their plans.
Tamas had worked as a driver with his brother in the Ukrainian town of Berehove/Beregszasz.
The new arrivals in Hungary gathered at a small kiosk just a few hundred metres from the border, discussing plans and warming their hands in the cold.
A woman in her 40s wearing a winter jacket stood by the road with her 15-year-old son and just one large bag. She said she had brought her son as she feared he could be conscripted into the army if authorities lowered the age limit.
"I am afraid they will take my son," she said.
A couple, Dmitry and Ksenia, both 23, left Kyiv late on Wednesday night by car. They crossed on foot into Hungary and plan to take a train to Germany where Dmitry's sister lives.
Dmitry says he is not fleeing conscription as he has heart problems and so would be unsuitable for army service.
"I am very worried for my mother, she could not yet make it (out of Kyiv)," he adds.
