HOUSTON – Thousands are fleeing Ukraine and headed towards Poland as war rages in several parts of the country.

Spring native Akrum Ali was vacationing in Kyiv for almost a week and said everything was fine until Thursday morning.

“It had been completely normal until 4 in the morning,” Ali said. “Everything was normal.”

Ali said sirens and explosions could be heard in the distance, and by Friday morning, he made the decision to leave and head for the Polish border.

“There were concrete barriers and barbed wire in the road that had already been pushed through by other cars earlier. So, I pushed through that and just sped. I learned later on that they started bombing around where I had been at 3 a.m. and I left at midnight,” said Ali.

Ali said he also saw military personnel headed for Ukraine’s capital city.

“I saw three separate groups of tanks,” he added.

After 10 hours in a rental car Ali, said he made it to the border.

There, he found a line of vehicles waiting to cross over and was approached by a family in need of assistance.

“This family had been dropped off by somebody. It was a grandmother, mother, and two children and the children were 9 and 5, and the mother had a physical handicap that prevented her from walking normally,” Ali said. “We sat in the car for almost 17 hours. The distance we traveled was seven miles but we stayed in the car for 17 hours.”

Ali helped the family cross the border and said his goodbyes.

He says he genuinely feared he would not survive the trip but doesn’t regret being in Ukraine for several reasons.

“Ukraine’s an incredible country, the people are amazing and I’m really, really happy that I got to see them. I think they’re also very brave, I met a lot of people that were ready to fight,” said Ali.

Ali last communicated with KPRC Sunday night and said he is now in the city of Warsaw and plans to fly home Monday.