A father putting his hand on the glass of a departing train window as his young son did the same was one of many heartbreaking scenes witnessed in Kyiv on Friday by NBC News’ Richard Engel.
"It was one of these heartbreaking moments," Engel said on TODAY Friday."I was watching a man say goodbye to his family, his wife and his young son. And he was there on the platform. He put his hand up to the glass. His young son on the inside of the train, put his hand up to the glass.
"And I asked the man how he was feeling and he said it was the most difficult moment of his entire life right there as he’s watching his family go away and he’s staying behind to fight.""There are moments in life, especially wartime, when families have to make very difficult decisions, and people are making those decisions right now," Engel said."Families are separating.
"We were at the train station and we saw sometimes whole families arriving, saying goodbye on the platform, and then women, children, elderly getting on the train with one or two bags.""There was a lot of pushing, a lot of confusion," Engel said."People obviously didn't want to miss the train, they're trying to get as many people onboard as possible. And they were all heading west.
"People were heading out of this city. Sometimes they didn't know exactly where they were going or where they would end up, but they were heading toward Lviv and then beyond to Poland or other countries."