The pianist, Davide Martello, drove his “piano for peace” for 15 hours from his home in Germany to the border crossing and played for hours in freezing weather, just to offer the refugees some musical relief from the war they were fleeing.

“They leave the bombs behind and they go to the music,” Martello said, surrounded by refugees who were taking pictures and clapping.

“I’m saying ‘hello’ to all these people who are coming in and saying ‘hello’ with my piano.”

Martello became known as the Piano Man of Istanbul’s Taksim Square when he took up residence with a baby grand piano where Turkish anti-government protesters and police clashed in 2013.    

He has since become known for travelling around conflict zones to play the piano and has been recognised by the European parliament for his “outstanding contribution to European cooperation and the promotion of common values”.

Martello is not the only Italian uniting people over music in Ukraine as the country continues to endure Russia’s attacks.

A video surfaced last week of Italy’s ambassador to Ukraine, Pier Francesco Zazo, playing Bach on the piano to drown out the noise of bombs as more than 100 Italians took refuge at his residence in Kyiv.

Zazo was the last diplomat to leave Kyiv, early last week, making the 500-kilometre journey west to Italy’s new Ukrainian embassy in Lviv.

But not before he had evacuated everyone else there first, including the children and newborn babies.

The number of refugees who have fled Ukraine sine Russia began its invasion has now reached 2 million, the International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday.

The European Union on Thursday decided to grant temporary protection and residency permits to people fleeing Ukraine, predicting that as many as 4 million people could leave the country and seek refuge elsewhere.