Germany’s ‘Piano Man’ Davide Martello was seen greeting and serenading refugees arriving in Poland from Ukraine on Friday.
The German pianist was seen playing his piano at the border with Poland at Korczowa, reported Reuters.
A video published by Reuters shows him inviting people who were coming in from across the border to join him on the piano.
Adults and even young children could be seen taking turns to play alongside Mr Martello.
On 24 February, Russia launched a “special military operation” in Ukraine that has since displaced tens of thousands of people.
On Wednesday, the UN said that in seven days of fighting a million people had left the country, the swiftest exodus in a century.
“In just seven days we have witnessed the exodus of one million refugees from Ukraine to neighbouring countries,” Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR), said in a statement on Twitter.
The exodus amounts to more than two per cent of Ukraine’s population that has been on the move in under a week. At the end of 2020, Ukraine’s population stood at 44 million, according to the World Bank.
Most refugees are moving to neighbouring countries of Poland, Romania before moving elsewhere.
In nine days of fighting Russian troops have been trying to capture capital Kyiv, while key cities such as Kharkiv, Odesa and Mariupol remained on the brink of collapse due to missile strikes and bombings.
Kherson, a major urban Ukrainian centre, became the first city to fall on Thursday.
Thousands have been killed or wounded in the past week.
On Friday, Russian troops took control of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant following continuous shelling of the facility by Russian troops.
The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.
