The Ukrainian town of Volnovakha was almost completely destroyed in the first days of the war, with intense shelling targeting civilian homes. About 90% of buildings have been damaged or reduced to rubble, and the dead lie unburied in the street, residents say.
Hundreds if not thousands of people are still sheltering in basements without heat or electricity, and dwindling supplies of food and water. Russia has not made good on offers of a ceasefire and humanitarian corridor to allow evacuations.
Marina, 38, an economist and mother of three, tells the story of her family’s hellish week under fire – and their terrifying escape.
“My life is split into before and after these events happening in my country. I couldn’t hold back my tears about all the destruction.
“When we heard the news that the Russian federation was planning to ‘liberate’ some territories, we didn’t believe it, we didn’t even think it was possible in the modern world. That’s why we decided to stay in the place we live.
“If we had imagined for even a second what was coming, we would have risked trying to escape the very first moment the shelling started. Our children, who are five, six and 13, have got psychological trauma from this that will last all their lives.
“On the 24th of February, we woke up to the sound of shelling, Everyone was scared. We have two children at school, and one in kindergarten.
“We didn’t know what to do at that moment, but we decided to prepare our basement, and make some stockpiles of food and water. My brother came over with his family so there were 12 of us altogether.
“The very first day, we tried to go back to the house from the basement when it was safe, but after hearing blasts and explosions all around we soon abandoned this idea.
“After the first day, only the grown men left the basement. We waited for them and they went to cook some food, warm some water, but then the gas and electricity were cut off, so there was no light and no tea. When we had electricity it was OK; we had a heater, and it was damp but at least warm.
“I believe it was the second day that the power went out, but I have confused memories about the time, because it was days of total hell living in basements.
“When they cut the electricity, it was freezing and particularly hard for the children. Shells started to fall on the street near us; all the fences and walls of the house which look on to the street were hit by shrapnel.
“After that attack we made the decision to move from there to our parents’ house, which is in another part of town we thought would be more safe. We took only our documents, put the children in the car, and drove straight there.
“But in the end we didn’t even spend a single night there. A shell had hit the garage of a neighbour’s house. It absolutely smashed it. We decided it would be too dangerous to stay, because if a shell hit the house directly we would be buried under the debris.
“There was a municipal building nearby that had a kind of half-basement with some windows. It was too hard psychologically for us being in the dark in the basement all day and night, so we went there, even though it was dirty, damp and smelt bad.
“There were 37 people stuck there. We brought pillows, blankets and camp beds for the kids, but we adults just slept sitting up.
“There was a little gas at first but very few supplies – just what we had on us – and it was impossible even to go to the nearby houses to collect supplies or cook them, because the shelling was so intense. We couldn’t even calculate a window of opportunity to leave, although we had a car.
“For water, we just had a little that had not been cleaned or filtered from a nearby well; the men would run there. We used a toilet for a bucket.
“There was also a kid with us there who has Asperger’s. He was screaming all night. No one could explain the situation to him and his mother couldn’t calm him down.
“Eventually some soldiers found us. They shared the food they had and told us they would pass on the information that there are civilians stuck here needing evacuation. After that, they helped us a few more times, coming by to share food.
“The biggest problem was that we had no communications. So when the soldiers finally came after three or four days and told us you have five minutes to evacuate, some people started to panic, and said Putin will kill us.
“Despite that, all 37 people ran out, and they put us in an armoured car, because the tyres on normal cars would all burst. That’s how we got away from that hell.
“They dropped us at a village near Volnovakha and left us in the school. We spent the night on the floor, but we were happy because we couldn’t hear any shells and gunfire.
“But now we have nowhere to go, and nowhere to go back to. We don’t know what to do next. We are desperate; we didn’t expect the scale of destruction that we saw when we came out of the basement.
“Even when we were sitting there and hearing the shelling, we didn’t expect that. The houses are all destroyed. I’ve seen the footage on the internet.
“We don’t have a lot of money to support ourselves or to travel. We need to find a new place where we can start again. We have nothing but a few papers and what is on our phone. Even our family photos that we stored on our computer don’t exist any more.”
