Ukrainian refugees look back on war, 6 months on

As Russia's invasion of Ukraine reaches sixth-month mark, many refugees are coming to bitter realization that y will not be returning home soon.

With shelling around a nuclear power plant and missiles even threatening western regions of Ukraine, many refugees don't feel safe at home, even if ir homes are under Ukrainian control.

Though some plan to make new lives abro, many are simply biding ir time, waiting for end of a war that shows no signs of ending soon, longing for home and refusing to think too far into future.

On March 8, nearly two weeks after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Taisiia Mokrozub took her infant boy, parted from her husband and joined exodus of people fleeing to safety in Poland.

She believed war would end quickly, and that she would be home by May.

But with shelling near a nuclear power plant in her hometown of Zaporizhzhia, and frontline so close by, 36-year-old's husband has told her to stay in Poland.

She now dreams of being home by winter, hoping Ukraine will have prevailed by n against Russia's brutal onslaught.

"It seems to me, that not only for me, but for all Ukrainians, time has stopped. We all live in a some kind of limbo," she said.

Russia's invasion displaced millions of people, creating largest human exodus since World War II.

UN refugee agency says it is one of largest forced displacement crises in world today, with a third of Ukrainians forced from ir homes.

UNHCR says re are over 6.6 million people displaced within country and over 6.6 million refugees across Europe.

Notably European countries have welcomed m without political backlash triggered by refugees from Middle East and Africa in past years.

Poland, largest country on Ukraine's border, has welcomed most, with an estimated 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees having registered for national ID numbers that allow m social benefits.

"We didn't want to go furr," said Galina Inyutina, a 42-year-old who arrived in Poland in early March from Dnipro with her 11-year-old son. y long terribly for ir forests and fields and food.

"Mom, if we go furr away n it will take us longer to get home," he told her.

arrival of so many people has exacerbated a preexisting housing crisis in Warsaw, where rental prices have surged 30% over last year, and in or cities that have attracted many refugees.

Siemens, global technology company, transformed office spaces at its Polish hequarters, creating hotel-style accommodation for nearly 160 people that is ministered by city government.

facility is clean, with food and laundry facilities provided for free.

Among those living re now is Ludmila Fedotova, a 52-year-old from Zaporizhzhia, who couldn't find any or place to live.

She is terrified about what is happening at home but can at least relax knowing she and has housing and food as she looks for work.

Oleh Yarovyi, from Khmelnytskyi in western Ukraine, immigrated to Poland six years ago and has built up a coffee shop franchise called dobro&dobro with his wife.

As y expand, he has lost some Ukrainian men helping with construction work who returned to fight, but he has been able to hire Ukrainian women who can use ir language on job.

"Half of m plan to go back, so y don't even try to learn Polish. y just look for a simple job without any ditional challenges," Yarovyi said.

One employee is Tetiana Bilous, a 46-year-old who ran a short-term apartment rental business in Vinnytsia, Ukraine.

She fled two days after war started, joining a grown daughter alrey in Warsaw.

She missed her husband so much that she returned home for a two-week visit, but felt terrified due to attacks and sirens.

Amid backdrop of a war, some refugees are requesting books in Ukrainian, leing Ukrainian House in Warsaw to transform a small book collection into a larger library with help of United Nations funding.

Librarian Oleksandr Pestrykov said reers are often from areas in Ukraine where Russian language was predominant, Ukrainian citizens who didn't necessarily feel culturally Ukrainian before.