Rescue flights carrying Israeli nationals arrived from from war-torn Ukraine at pre-dawn on Tuesday amid the ongoing Russian invasion of the country.
The rescue flights arrived from Poland and Romania and after long hours of waiting, the relatives, who were waiting at the airport, were finally able to reunite with their loved ones.
"We went through a five-day journey on the roads," said Larisa Zaskrov, 33, who landed with her nine-year-old son Kirill and their dog. Zaskrov's husband had to stay behind to fight for the country.
"We escaped from Kyiv to Warsaw, it was a tough and terrifying journey, I'm exhausted and still frightened. My husband escorted us all the way to the Polish border, and we said goodbye to each other."
When asked if she would ever return to Ukraine, Zaskrov said "definitely, I have a business there, friends, family, I would return for sure."
"We were under attack by the Russian forces," said Nahdi Tawil, who was studying medicine in Kharkiv.
"We woke up on the first night of the attack, heard explosions all around us, and at that moment we decided to leave Ukraine. We drove three days to Moldova and then to Romania where we boarded the flight to Israel. I'm glad I'm here, but I'm sad about Ukraine. I love it. We hope peace would be reached," he said.
Hussein Ivanberry, 23, landed with his older brother, also from Kharkiv, where they studied medicine and engineering.
"Thank god we made it," he said. "We've had a very tough week. We saw missiles fly and tanks with Russian soldiers all over the roads, it was scary. And as we passed by, our bus driver explained to them that we were foreign students and not Ukrainians."
Along with the students, Ivgeny, an Israeli-Ukrainian who lives in Kiyv, also landed in the Jewish state, but he had to leave behind his Ukrainian spouse. "I flew there to try and get her out, but she didn't want to leave," he said. "When it all started, I went to the Polish border, not far from Belarus, it was a 36-hour journey. It was stressful and unpleasant but we in Israel are familiar with such situations. There's a relief because I'm back in the country, but the war there continues and Ukraine is a second home for me."