A terrified British pensioner told the Mirror how he spent ten days locked in the basement of his house in Ukraine - with his pet dog - as Russian bombs rained down on him.
OAP Douglas Homer, 83, was living in the war-torn city of Kharkiv when the Russians invaded.
He took to his cellar, which acted as a bomb shelter, with his one-year-old pet poodle Jeffrey.
Douglas, from Poole, Dorset, has now made an extraordinary escape and is safely in the Czech Republic with his beloved Jeffrey.
He told the Mirror: “It was horrible, horrible, horrible - I can’t forget it.”
Douglas is a company adviser and a former business consultant who moved to Kharkiv ten years ago.
He said as the bombing started his wife left without him and left him stranded so he and Jeffrey headed to the basement.
He said: “The wife was gone, so I said, well, here we go – it's only the two of us left, my boy.
“He was very nervous of the explosions and especially when it got very near.
“He’s always been a super boy and slept with me. He means the earth to me.”
Douglas went on: “The problems started when gas shut off and the electricity kept coming and going - leaving me in the cold and dark.
“My neighbours would bring cooked meals over, when the bombings stopped – a kindness I was deeply grateful for.
“A couple of times I tried to get out and make short trips, but one incident soon put an end to that.
“On Saturday, just about a week since the war began, I started getting out of food so I decided to go to the supermarket. It was still open.
“I went there, parked the car and walked five steps from the car and it went boom. Cluster bombs!
“Just at the back of the supermarket - they were aiming for the Military Hospital nearby.
“Those cluster bombs caused big explosions. That unnerved me.
“I became increasingly desperate but managed to contact my family in Britain and a friend in Czech Republic, who arranged for my escape, with a family of builders.
“That entailed a three day car journey via “backroads” in Ukraine, coming to Moldova and eventually to Trutnov, in Czech Republic.
“I aim to stay, instead of returning to the UK. All this time, Jeffrey has not gone farther than two feet from me.”
