Yurii Zhyhanov was woken up by his mother’s screams and found covered in dust. On the second day of the Russian invasion, shelling on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, they targeted your building.
Many civilians, horrified to see their lives in danger, began to escape in the first hours of the attack. Amid smoke and blaring car alarms on Friday, Zhyhanov and his family packed their bags and joined them.
“What are you doing? What is this?”he said, speaking to Russia and pointing at the building behind him. “If you want to attack military personnel, attack military personnel. That’s all I’m saying.”
His fatigue and stupor mirrored those of his country when people came out of bomb shelters, basements and subway tunnels to face another day of upheaval.
The fear
Some were woken up by explosions, others by alarm sirens. Then news came that the Russian troops They had reached the outskirts of the capital.
Russia says it is not attacking cities, but the fighting felt too close.
The body of a dead soldier lay near an overpass in Kiev. Elsewhere, fragments of a downed plane smoked in a residential area. black plastic covered human remains in the middle of the brick houses.
Armored transports of soldiers passed through the streets of the city. Soldiers took up positions on empty trains. Meanwhile, the neighbors they watched uneasily at the doors of their buildings.
Outside a monastery, a woman raised her hands to a mural of saints and appeared to be praying. In the port city of Mariupol, a girl named Vlada called for an end to the attack.
“I don’t want to die”, said. “I want all this to end as soon as possible.”
Uncertainty
The uncertainty increased the fear. On a street in the Obolon district, Associated Press reporters saw a disabled military truck with flat tires. The truck had no visible insignia and it was unclear whether it was a vehicle that the Ukrainian Armed Forces staff says it was stolen by Russian troops who sought to impersonate locals.
Ukrainians collected belongings among the damage left by the shelling. And some were hurt.
In the city of Horlivka, in the territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists, a corpse covered in a blanket lay next to a destroyed house. A man standing nearby was talking on the phone.
“Yes, mom died,” he said. “Mom died.”
The UN human rights office said it was receiving reports of mounting civilian casualties, with at least 25 verified deaths, mostly from shelling and aerial bombardment. “The figures, we fear, could be much higher” said office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani.
The need to flee grew. Some civilians approached the borders on foot, carrying luggage with them. “It is unfortunate to be at our advanced age, facing war,” said Marika Sipos, who had left her home in Koson, with tears in her eyes.
AP Agency
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