A Ukrainian man was forced to make a daring escape from his beseiged home-city cyclying 50 miles through a terrifying gauntlet of Russian shelling.
Arif Bagirov, 45, pedalled for seven hours feeling the Russian bombarbment of his home town of Severodonetsk.
The beleaguered city has become the latest target for Vladimir Putin's invading armies after Mariupol finally fell after a long and bitter siege.
Severodonetsk is a key to Russian forces controlling the Luhansk region, reports DailyMail.
Mr Bagirov decided to leave after a shell hit the apartment below his but miraculously didn't explode.
The media manager eventually made it to the city of Bakmut and from there he took a bus to the relative safety of Dnipro.
Mr Bagirov said: "I have been in the saddle for 11 years, so 50 miles is nothing for me – but this was the craziest bike ride of my life.
"Some roads were totally blown apart. I cycled right past exploded shells in the ground.
"The bike offers me far greater mobility – this would have been impossible in a car."
Having learnt from watching the fighting around him closely, Mr Bagirov would wait to see where Russian shells landed – then cycle towards them.
"I learnt from my experience in Severodonetsk that they don’t hit the same objective twice," he said.
"I knew if they shelled a factory five minutes ago, they would not shell it again.
"I would watch where the shells would land and cycle there – it was the safest route.
"I could see explosions all around me, from shelling and from air strikes.
"I had to stop the bike and hide when enemy jets flew towards me.
"If I heard an outgoing shell I would get off and find cover until it had landed."
Thankfully Mr Bagirov’s wife and daughter had already escaped the city before the renewed onslaught began last week.
Russian forces have entered the nearby city of Lyman and it is feared they will use this as a foothold for full on assault into Severodonetsk.
Mr Bagirov said: "The situation in Severodonetsk is desperate and gets worse with every day.
"There is only one bridge left. If they blow that bridge it will be completely besieged."
He added: "It is already like Mariupol. They are shelling it almost every hour of the day, so it is impossible to get the bodies out."
