A wounded Ukrainian teacher, whose bloodied and bandaged face damned Russia ’s war, has escaped to safety.
Flying glass seriously injured Olena Kurilo’s eye when a Russian rocket hit her building on February 24, the first day of the invasion.
The image of her face made front pages across the world, a symbol of the human cost of war.
A friend to the family said: “She wants to be the face of peace, not of war.”
The mum, 52, spent 22 terrifying days cowering in the rubble of her building in Chuhuiv, near Kharkiv, caught between Russian troops and Ukrainian defenders.
On March 13, she shared words on Instagram : “We don’t need bread, food or water, all we need is a no fly zone. The country is already in ruins.
"Half of Ukraine already is lost. How many more injuries and deaths are needed among unarmed women and small children?
"Please save our people from grief and terror that the enemy bring, while it is not too late.”
Olena left on March 18 and after a treacherous journey is now in southern Poland with daughter Katerina.
She is getting vital medical treatment at a specialist clinic.
Russia have lied about Olena, claiming she is an actress and the photo was taken after a 2018 gas explosion.
Katerina, a screenwriter and blogger, has been using her Instagram to dispel the fake news.
In one photo Olena stands with a bandaged eye and green disinfectant from a local hospital, holding up her passport to prove that she is real.
The source said: “Russians are so zombified and believe what they are told. Olena wants them to understand this is not a game, it is not a movie.
"If there wasn’t a war she’d be with her beloved pupils, she tries to keep in touch with them wherever they are, she just wants it to be over.”
The pair are among the 3.8million to flee Ukraine, including 2.2million to Poland, since the start of the war.
Olena’s husband Mykola, 54, has stayed behind to help his community.
Yesterday, US President Joe Biden, said the world should help lessen the humanitarian burden shouldered by Poland.
Meanwhile up to 20,000 civilians may have been killed by the bombing of the Black sea city of Mariupol.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he would propose to Russia a plan to help people leave.
Ukraine’s office of the prosecutor general said 136 children have been killed in the war.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced the war was entering “phase two” – possibly focusing on eastern Donbas after military failures on all fronts.
Last night Russia’s army, suffering poor morale and a lack of food and ammunition, was on the brink of losing Kherson in the south, the only major city under its control.
The loss would be a big blow to Putin’s plan to create a so-called land bridge from the Crimea peninsula to the disputed Donbas region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said more than 16,000 Russians have been killed, including commanders.
He said Moscow threatened the world. “They are bragging they can destroy with nuclear weapons not only a certain country but the planet.”
British intelligence says Russia is increasingly relying on air and artillery bombardments “to limit its own already considerable losses, at the cost of further civilian casualties.”
Russian billionaire Eugene Shvidler’s two jets have been detained by the British government.
