Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says troops are holding out at the port of Mariupol, where a Russian siege is believed to have killed thousands of trapped civilians. 

According to the United Nations, more than 4.5 million Ukrainians have fled their homes since the start of the invasion. Another 7 million are internally displaced. 

As the refugee crisis grows, volunteers from around the globe are jumping in to provide aid, including one event planner from Southern California. 

In an interview for “LA Times Today,” Cat Libor spoke to host Lisa McRee just hours before heading to Ukraine to provide aid.

Seeing the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine prompted Libor to take action.

"Those are some staggering numbers in a very short period of time, when you hear that over 4 million people had to flee their country,” Libor said. “You need everybody to jump in and to help in other places in other countries such as Poland, which is where I'm starting my journey.”

Libor worked for a company that produces major events like Electric Daisy Carnival and the Long Beach Grand Prix. She explained how her skills in producing large-scale events will translate into assisting on the border.  

"What we've learned in decades of being in the event industry is the movement of people. How do you move large groups of people safely? We get quite a bit of training on things like active shooter training and crowd surges,” Libor said. “We get special training from Special Operations services of the United States government when we do patriotic events, such as large air shows that could be a target.”

Click the arrow above to watch the interview.

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