The advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs to Irish citizens in Ukraine is to shelter in a secure place.
It is understood there are now 64 Irish citizens in Ukraine, most of whom have families and are settled in the country.
Alan Creedon who lives in Kyiv is one of them.
Originally from Cork, he is newly married to his Ukrainian wife Tania.
When they woke to an air raid siren at 5.50am, they got all their documents, left their apartment, and went to the shelter in an underground car park.
After two hours, they returned for food and clothes and prepared to go to a designated bomb shelter for the night.
"So tonight, after this phone call, we're going to go to the one of the designated bomb shelters and probably stay there overnight. And then see which way things are swinging," he says.
Alan and his wife are trying to leave Kyiv, but he says they needed all the necessary documents, which he says has been difficult, because they have only been married a year.
"You need all sorts of things, but I know they've been doing their best to waive the documents that the visa requires. So, the next thing is to try and form a plan of action to get out of Kyiv and to get to the border if possible."
Alan gets upset when he is asked if, ultimately, he wants to get home to Ireland.
"Back to Ireland for the moment. Just to be safe honestly. I just want to get home".
He breaks down.
Back in Ireland he says his Mam has been "working wonders", trying to get them help from Ireland.
Alan and Tania's next plan is to get to his wife’s parents’ who are on the other side of the city, about an hour and a half away.
In order to get out of the city, they must get transport, but they do not know which roads are safe.
"There were queues everywhere, queues outside food stores, queues outside pharmacies, buying fuel"
Alan has been in contact with the Irish consulate in Ukraine, but communication has been sporadic in recent days.
"I understand they are in a very difficult position, there are moving parts at the moment, when things settle down, maybe if they can pick back up the communication, that's all. Then we can work together to come to formulate a plan, and it's probably the way home".
Nearer the Russian border - about five hours east of Kyiv and 30km north of Poltava city - Eugene O'Sullivan and his family have stocked up with enough food and medicine for the next two weeks.
"This morning it was panic," he says, "there were queues everywhere, queues outside food stores, queues outside pharmacies, buying fuel".
Eugene says the cash machines are completely out of money and bank cards are useless.
"The banks are closed, so unless you have cash, that's the only thing you're going to get anywhere here now," he says.
Things are calm when he speaks to RTÉ News mid-afternoon.
"We did not expect an invasion, that's being honest," he says, "we did not."
