rescued his mother-in-law and dozens of relatives from Ukraine

 It was a direct and desperate message from his mother-in-law in Ukraine that convinced Alberto, 58, that he needed to act fast. "I'm already dead," he told her over the phone from Kharkiv. "I don't understand why you insist on him calling me. Don't call me again. Alberto, an Italian who lives in Vienna with his Ukrainian wife Svetlana, said he hasn't answered the phone since." family of his wife from a grave," the former policeman told Euronews. I told myself that if we didn't go looking for them, we would never see them again. "It was one of the first  to be bombarded. It is also among the most affected cities.The regional emergency service said  Wednesday that at least 500 city residents had been killed since the Russian invasion began on February 24. A few days after the start of  the conflict, civilian areas had already been targeted. Its inhabitants spent days stuck in bunkers, without immediate access to food, water and medical supplies. "The air-raid shelter was not a real bunker, but like a cellar," Svetlana's cousin Alina told Euronews. "There were 5,070 people inside and we had no electricity or signal. The shops were closed most of the day, so getting bread was no problem. We could hear the walls shaking. The tragedy human being is just indescribable. You see the terror in people's eyes,  panic, post-traumatic stress disorder. This is just not a normal world.The situation left Alberto and Svetlana deeply troubled, especially as their loved ones' phone signals became more erratic. Then, on March 2, after his mother-in-law's candid message, communications broke down and Alberto felt compelled to intervene. Alberto assembled a team  of around 100 friends and colleagues, who helped him carefully plan his trip from Vienna to Ukraine. “People who rush into things like that, who do everything themselves, put themselves in danger,” Alberto said. "I didn't want to make a hero of the journey or anything spontaneous. Joining him on his journey was Alex, a Ukrainian living in Poland, who found his mother  stuck in the house sleeping in her bathtub. food and an additional 160 liters of gasoline, the two men left Vienna in the early hours of March 5, crossed Hungary and Slovakia, and reached the Ukrainian border town of Uzhhorod the next day at 9 a.m. by shelling, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday March 13, 2022Credit: AP PhotoAvoid the bombs and defy the curfewOnce inside Ukraine, Alberto said he was immediately confronted with the harsh reality of war: destruction everywhere, lines at gas stations that lasted for hours, and the weight of the conflict visibly imprinted on the faces of the locals. "The human tragedy is simply indescribable," he said. "You see the terror in people's eyes, the panic,  PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]. It's just not a normal world. Alberto spent his first night in the western town of Ternopil, where he slept with about 80 other people inside a refugee center, crammed  in the most uncomfortable conditions, then spent the night in Vinnytsia, which had been spared heavy shelling and was seen as a better option. than kyiv or Kharkiv. But soon after they arrived, a missile attack hit Vinnytsia International Airport. "The airport was not far from where I was living," Alberto said. "At that time there, it sounded like an earthquake. You're scared, you see smoke, you don't know if there's another group of missiles approaching. ...I spent the whole night awake in fear, even after it was all over.It was so terrifying that Alberto's 80-year-old host Natalia begged to go with him. Svetlana's relatives went to meet Alberto in Vinnytsia on March 8, "overwhelmed with emotion" at the thought of making it out safe and sound. Natalia joined them. The convoy now consisted of two stray dogs and more than 40 people in six vehicles. On the way to the border, a small hitch almost compromised their whole plan. One of their cars broke down and by the time it was fixed they were over half an hour past curfew. "You have young people, mostly conscripts, hiding in the bushes, waiting to shoot," Alberto said. "Honestly, we could have been killed then. Thank goodness we did." AP PhotoA  Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces volunteer assists a woman crossing the road in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 16, 2022 AP Photo 'I still can't hold back my tears' Upon arrival at the Romanian-Ukrainian border, a painful awareness has arisen. on the group: while they had managed to flee.