A journalist documented his journey from Bulgaria to Odesa to help evacuate seafarers' families from war-torn Ukraine.

Aleksandar Todorov, a maritime journalist, captured footage as they entered Reni at the Moldova-Ukraine border.

The journalist's visuals show military personnel guarding a checkpoint at the border as large queues of vehicles build up.

Todorov told Newsflare: "On these blockades at night we saw mostly young soldiers of visible age between 18-25 years old. There were about 10 checkpoints on the road from the Moldovan-Ukraine border to Odesa.

"All road signs and key building signs in Ukraine have been removed. Armoured vehicles could be seen in the nearby forests.

"When passing it, drivers must turn off their lights and drive on emergency lights. Many times we were stopped by unmarked cars from which the military came out. We were told that they were conducting inspections for sabotage groups."

Todorov then recounts his encounter with Ukrainian soldiers: "A colleague from the Bulgarian team got off the bus and tried to take some night photos of the bus station, where we had stopped for the night.

"Then a heavily armed team of the Ukrainian army came out of nowhere. They made us raise our hands and face the bus. This was the most dangerous moment of our journey, as machine guns were aimed at us.

"While we were trying to explain that we were journalists, the military searched the bus and searched us. 'I will shoot, do not move, turn to the bus,' shouted a young soldier as his colleagues surrounded us with aimed weapons.

"We managed to explain that we are working in Odessa and we want to present the situation in the country. 'You see the situation, this is a war, you have no right to take pictures during the curfew, you have no right to move, you have no right to go out,' a soldier shouted."

Once in Odesa, southern Ukraine, Todorov asked a Ukrainian-Israeli nation for his thoughts on Russia's attack: "The situation is very problematic as the capital city and Kharkiv is attacked every day and every night with missiles.

"We will stand strong and we will be okay. I think it will take some time but I think we will win."

Todorov said: "People there told us that they were also extremely worried about the situation, but there are currently no active hostilities in Odesa."

The journalist from Bulgaria managed to evacuate almost 40 people and footage shows them boarding a coach which then headed to Varna.

He said: "We managed to evacuate 37 people - mostly women and children of Ukrainian sailors who work for a Bulgarian shipping company.

"The footage shows the return to Bulgaria. Getting people on the bus. A woman was fleeing Ukraine with her guinea pig. The queues at the borders are visible. Hundreds of cars and people."

Todorov's footage was filmed from February 28 to March 2.

I was travelling with a bus which is evacuating Ukrainian seafarers families from Odessa to Varna, Bulgaria. I was trying to record everything on the trip, but in Ukraine taking videos, that are showing the army, is prohibited. Taking photos and videos is prohibited too during the curfew between 19:00 till 06:00 in Odessa.

My trip started at Varna on 28.02.2022. We've crossed the Bulgarian-Romanian border at Durankulak, the Romanian - Moldovian border at Giurgiulesti, the Moldovian - Ukrainian at Reni.