An 18-year-old Ukrainian has become the guardian of his four brothers and sisters after their mother was tragically killed.
Vyacheslav Yalov, from the village of Verkhnotoretske in Donetsk Oblast in Ukraine, stepped up to the plate to look after his brothers and sisters, even evacuating them from their home.
The siblings are made up of Nicole, aged 11, Olivia, aged eight, and their two brothers Daniel, aged 16, and Timur, aged 10.
The family have now settled in Lviv, a city in western Ukraine which has remained, so far, largely less bombed than other cities.
Vyacheslav has arranged school places for his siblings and made sure they all had food and clothing, as everything was ruined and lost in the brutal bombing which saw them lose their mother.
Speaking about the day his mother Marina, 37, died, Vyacheslav said the family had just returned home when suddenly they were rocked by two large shells exploding metres away from them.
He said: "The second shell was the worst, it was deafening. When I opened my eyes, I could see my mother lying on her side. I went over to her and tried to lift her up and she said: I'm fine." But died very quickly after.
He said they held out hope, bandaging her wounds and attempting to revive her but, despite other people coming to help, there was nothing that could be done.
With Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces unrelenting in dropping bombs and fierce fighting continuing, the siblings could not arrange a proper funeral and had to bury their mother in a bomb crater. They hope one day to return and give her a proper send-off.
Once they fled their hometown, they managed to get two rooms in a hostel and the local authority promised to give them their own home and assistance so that all of them could study and not just the four youngest.
Vyacheslav said: "We don't have any other relatives. I want to give them a childhood and I know I will be able to succeed."
He added he does not want to give up on his dreams to become a doctor. Daniel wants to work in IT, Timur wants to work as a prosecutor, Olivia as a judge, and Nicole as a lawyer.
On Wednesday, the first Russian soldier on trial for war crimes in Ukraine pleaded guilty. Tank commander Vadim Shishimarin, 21, murdered a 62-year-old civilian in the northeast Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka, east of Kyiv on February 28, just four days after warmonger Putin ordered troops over the border.
The British Ministry of Defence's intelligence update has said that in the Chernihiv region north of Kyiv, approximately 3,500 buildings are estimated to have been destroyed or damaged during Russia ’s abandoned advance towards the Ukrainian capital. With 80% of the damage to residential buildings.
It continued: "Russia has likely resorted to an increasing reliance on indiscriminate artillery bombardment due to a limited target acquisition capability, and an unwillingness to risk flying combat aircraft routinely beyond its own frontlines. Russia is likely to continue to rely heavily on massed artillery strikes as it attempts to regain momentum in its advance in the Donbas."
