Damage caused to apartment building in Chernihiv
(Picture: REUTERS)People living in Chernihiv have described hiding under their tables as Russian troops attack the city in northern Ukraine.
Russian forces escalated its air strikes against Ukraine, reportedly on Thursday killing at least 47 civilians in Chernihiv which lies 90 miles north of the capital Kyiv.
There are reports Russian troops have surrounded Chernihiv and continue to attack residential areas in other Ukrainian cities including Mariupol, Borodyanka and Kharkiv.
Missiles have caused destruction to high-rise residential buildings, and damaged a clinic and a hospital in Chernihiv.
Many of the city’s 300,000 residents have fled to underground shelters.
Residents of the city have described their fear after residential areas have been destroyed in Russian air strikes.
One woman, named Svitlana, told the BBC an apartment block close to hers was destroyed on Thursday.
The mother-of-two said she was hiding with her family under her dining table in her five-storey apartment building as “we can hear the sounds right now of air strikes nearby”.
“There are no military targets here, there is only a cemetery, residential buildings, clinics and a hospital, why are they bombing us?” she added.
Meanwhile, another 22-year-old woman living in the city also said she could hear the sounds of continuous shelling throughout Friday morning.
Katya, a nurse, said: “I’m calling back now because I don’t know if it will be too late, I don’t know if we will survive.”
Describing her current situation, she told the BBC: “There is me, my mother, my grandma and our neighbour and we all are hiding in our house.
“At this very moment I can hear the shelling. Local hospitals and schools are destroyed. Russians promised not to kill civilians but they are killing.”
Another Chernihiv resident told how her family managed to escape when their building was hit in a direct strike.
52-year-old maths teacher Larysa said she, along with her husband, sister and brother-in-law were lucky to be alive after the missile “went through our building and hit the next building”.
She said: “We were hiding in the staircase near our sixth-floor apartment and we could hear planes flying overhead and they sounded low.
“Suddenly there was a boom and the whole building shook. We ran outside and people were screaming.”
On Friday, the Metropolitan Police announced it was helping to gather evidence to support an investigation into alleged war crimes by the International Criminal Court.
The force is calling for anyone in the UK in the UK who may have direct evidence of war crimes in Ukraine to come forward, particularly those who have witnessed or been the victim of alleged war crimes.
People can also send in direct messages, images or videos they have been sent by family members or friends in Ukraine, but not anything they have just come across on social media.
Investigators are looking into incidents from 21 November 2013 onwards.
