Horrifying reports out of Ukraine have refugees desperately trying to escape the chaos and violence.

Millions have crossed over the Ukraine border to neighboring countries like Poland.

Two women from the Mahoning Valley are in Poland to help them and both discuss the traumatic experiences they're hearing firsthand from refugees.

Jenelle Eli of Hubbard and Lisa Long of Leetonia are on the ground helping Ukrainian refugees as they flee from the terror back home.

"People are from various cities and towns in Ukraine," Eli said, "Some people...they flee before violence hits their town, Some people were really hesitant to do so and knew they needed to leave once their houses were destroyed."

Long works for the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation and said she just met with a mother named Lilly who escaped.

"Lilly is a vascular surgeon and she escaped from Ukraine into Poland just a few days ago," Long said, "She says they have been in a shelter or basement for two weeks hiding from the bombing and the terror."

Eli works for the Red Cross and one mother she met was able to flee from the violence unfolding.

"One night she went to a bomb shelter and when she jumped in, she actually broke her leg and her husband convinced her that she and her son just needed to leave to get out of there," Eli said, "When we talked to her she just said that she used to cry and now she doesn't cry anymore cause she just feels empty."

With fleeing, comes trauma. Eli recalls a four-year-old girl who had escaped from bombs in Ukraine, but what has not escaped is the sound in her mind.

"The girl just sat on this hospital bed and was just covering her ears because she was just expecting the sound of bombs to hit any minute," she said, "and they just had to convince her that she was safe."

Long said one elderly woman, wheelchair-bound and alive during World War ll, made it across the border.

She said the elderly woman, Bella, remembers the noises all too well.

"She remembers hearing these same noises in Ukraine when it was being invaded in World War ll and now in her older age, she's having to do this all over again," she said.