As Russia launched its war in Ukraine last month, exhausted and frightened refugees streamed into neighboring countries. They carried whatever they could quickly grab. Many cried. They still do. The United Nations says that more than 3.6 million people have fled Ukraine since the war started exactly one month ago Thursday, in the biggest movement of people in Europe since World War II. Most believed they would soon be back home. That hope is waning now. “At the beginning, we thought that this would end pretty soon,” said Olha Homienko, a 50-year-old woman from Kharkiv. “First of all, nobody could believe Russia would attack us, and we thought that it would end quickly.” Now, Homienko said, “as we can see, there is nothing to look forward to.” Read: West cranks up costs for Russia as war enters second month Homienko’s hometown is among several cities and towns that have been encircled and shelled heavily by the Russians. Refugees coming from besieged towns have told of destruction, death and hunger. Natalia Lutsenko, from the bombed-out northern town of Chernihiv, said she still thought the Russian invasion must be some kind of “misunderstanding.” Lutsenko said she couldn’t see why Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to make Ukrainians suffer so much. “Why is he bombing peaceful homes? Why there are so many victims, blood, and killed children, body parts everywhere?” Lutsenko pleaded. “It is horrible. Sleepless nights. Parents are crying, there are no children any more.” After fleeing her home, Lutsenko came to Medyka, a small town on the border between Ukraine and Poland where refugees have been coming since the start of the invasion.