On February 24, 2022, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation invaded Ukrainian territory, marking a sharp escalation of the Russian–Ukrainian conflict ongoing since 2014. This triggered the largest and fastest exodus Europe has witnessed since the Balkan wars and World War II. More than 5 million people left Ukraine in the first month, 2 million in the first two weeks alone, according to UNHCR.

For this reason, we crossed four countries in four days, covering 1,600 km to capture a snapshot—observing the response of EU countries and the humanitarian …