As Europe awoke on Thursday morning to the news that Russia had invaded Ukraine, most of us thought immediately of the friends we have close by, but whose lives would be touched that much more painfully. For many Ukrainians it was the phone ringing that woke them as family called to say they were under attack, and that they were leaving and heading west to safety.

Lisa called Oleksandr Petrykov, a local businessman to ask how his family were fairing.

Many people gathered on Thursday at noon on the Place Clairefontaine in protest and solidarity. The local Ukrainian not-for-profit organisation LUkraine asbl has called a press conference for Friday at 4pm. People are demanding harsher sanctions by European governments.