[Five weeks into Russia's onslaught in Ukraine processes across Europe screening those claiming to help Ukrainians are still far from foolproof. Refugees are forced to put their trust in strangers. (Photo from BBC)]

Five weeks into Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine, imagine for a moment what it's like to live there now.  Most seek refuge in other areas of Ukraine, believed to be safer. But more than three and a half million people have fled over the border. They’re mainly women and children, as men under the age of 60 are obliged by the Ukrainian government to stay put and fight.
 
"For predators and human traffickers, the war in Ukraine is not a tragedy," UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Twitter. "It's an opportunity - and women and children are the targets." Trafficking rings are notoriously active in Ukraine and neighboring countries in peacetime. The fog of war is the perfect cover to increase business. Karolina Wierzbińska, a coordinator at Homo Faber, a human rights organization based in Lublin, told me children were a huge concern.

 
 We met Margherita Husmanov, a Ukrainian refugee from Kyiv in her early 20s. She arrived at the border two weeks ago but decided to stay on, to help stop fellow refugees from falling into the wrong hands. "The women and children come here from a terrible war. They don't speak Polish or English. They don't know what's going on and they believe what anyone tells them. "Anyone can turn up at this station. The first day I volunteered, we saw three men from Italy. They were looking for beautiful women to sell into the sex trade.