The Russian owner of the hotel, Mihail Golubtsov, said that partly because of the shame they feel over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he and his family decided to take in dozens of Ukrainians fleeing the war.
This former Russian civil engineer left his homeland in 2014 because of the "unacceptable" annexation of Crimea, and now runs a modest but comfortable hotel in the countryside of central Serbia.
Before Moscow launched what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24, the Golubts' guests were mostly city folk looking to spend a weekend in the countryside. Now, most of the rooms are occupied by Ukrainian refugees, who stay in the hotel for free, as long as they need.
"The first seven people came because a friend gave them the address... and now they are just arriving," said Golubcov, 58.
"At first (after the invasion started), I was in shock and I was ashamed. For a while I couldn't even speak Russian, but when guests came and spoke to me in Russian, I answered them. I think now the only thing I can do is help the Ukrainians in some way," he told Reuters.
The United Nations said 3,8 million Ukrainians have left the country since the war began, with most of them going to Poland and Romania. Only about 2 Ukrainians have so far arrived in Serbia, where it is mostly just a transit station on their way to Western Europe.
One of the guests at Mihaila Golubtsov's hotel is 46-year-old Ana Nizhegorodova, a Russian married to a Ukrainian with whom she has lived in Kiev for the past 15 years. Her two children aged nine and 16 are also with her.
Nizhegorodova told Reuters that after several days in shelters in Kiev, she and her Ukrainian friend Olga Manmar, an English teacher and mother of three, decided to leave, packed into two cars and joined the refugee convoys towards Romania.
After a few days, the group ended up at the Golubcova Hotel near the town of Batočina, about 100 kilometers southwest of Belgrade.
Nizhegorodova said she felt empty when she arrived.
"You realize in your head that everything around you is beautiful and very quiet, but... you just want to cover yourself with a blanket," she said.
Manmarova, 39, wept as she described how Ukrainian families were forced to separate at the Romanian border. Ukraine has banned adult men from leaving the country.
"When you cross the border ... you are safe, ... but you feel sorry for those who are not," she said in English.
Translation: NB
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