When the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Mikhail Golubtsov says at first he was in shock. Being Russian himself he also felt a sense of shame, and it was partly this feeling that prompted him and his wife Vera to decide to open their doors to Ukrainians who were fleeing the war.

The couple runs a hotel near Batočina in central Serbia, an area surrounded by countryside and, "popular for hiking and cycling," according to several hotel booking websites.

Mikhail, a former engineer and Vera, who worked as a journalist, left Russia with their four children in 2014 after Moscow’s annexation of Crimea.

Mikhail Golubtsov told the broadcaster RFE/RL's Balkan Service in a recent interview: "I did not want my family to live in a country that is taking part of the territory from its neighbors."

Guests at the hotel 'Sidar And Skvos' (Cider and Squash) used to be mostly city-dwellers on weekend visits to the countryside. But since late February, most rooms have been taken up by Ukrainian refugees. So far the hotel has welcomed more than 34 people who Golubtsov says can stay free of charge for as long as they need.

"The first seven people arrived because a friend gave them the address, ... now they are simply arriving," he told Reuters news agency.

At the start Golubtsov could not even speak Russian to those who turned up, he explained, but now if guests arrive who speak Russian, he also speaks to them in Russian. "I think the only thing I can do now is to help Ukrainians somehow," he said.

"When a person is in trouble, they should be helped first, no matter what their faith or ethnicity, regardless of who they are and where they are from," Golubtsov told RFE/RL.

The United Nations estimates that over four million Ukrainians have fled their country since the war began, most of them to Poland and to Romania, which lies between Ukraine and Serbia.

RFE/RL reported on March 26, that more than 13,000 Ukrainians had made their way to Serbia, according to figures from the Serbian Commissariat for Refugees and Migration.

Kindness and decency

One of Golubtsov's guests was Anna Nizhegorodova, a Russian married to a Ukrainian who had been living in Kyiv for the past 15 years. Her two children aged nine and 16 were also with her.

Nizhegorodova told Reuters that after several days in Kyiv bomb shelters she and her Ukrainian friend Olga Manmar, an English teacher with three children, decided to leave. They packed everything in two cars and headed to Romania and Serbia, ending up at Golubtsov's hotel.

Nizhegorodova said she "felt nothing" when she arrived.

"In your mind you understand that everything around you is very beautiful and very quiet, but ... you simply want to cover yourself with a blanket," she told Reuters.

Ukraine has banned able-bodied men from leaving the country, and Nizhegorodova’s friend Manmar was in tears when she described how Ukrainian families had to separate at the Romanian border.

She told Reuters: "(When) you cross the border, ... you are safe, ... but you feel sorry for those who could not."

Also read: Serbia demands more reception places for Ukrainian refugees

Now living in an apartment in the nearby city of Kragujevac, Manmar said she will never forget that the Golubtsovs offered them friendship and support, telling RFE/RL that Mikhail "will always remain in our hearts for his kindness and decency."

With Reuters, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty