Ukraine is not dead yet, say defiant Kyiv residents
STORY: "Ukraine is not dead yet”.
The words to the country’s national anthem ring true for Kyiv resident, Katya.
“Long live Ukraine.”
The patisserie owner is supposed to be hosting a big birthday party.
But instead, she is helping her mother, Oksana Gulenko, clean up her apartment after it was damaged in an overnight assault by Russian forces.
The windows have been completely blown out. Shards of glass cover the cake-decorating supplies.
“I was sleeping, there was a sharp explosion and I was thrown 3 meters, from the room I was in into the corridor. That was it, the glass shattered, there were sounds coming from the street. I got scared, started crawling on the floor.”
Most of the residents of the apartment block she lives in are families of former Soviet army servicemen and border guards.
The explosion left Oksana disorientated in a home that has been in her family since the 1980s.
“I was completely confused, I did not understand what was going on with me, it was as if I were lifted and dropped. The I heard screams, sounds, I got up and saw all windows smashed, broken glass, I walked around the flat, quickly gathered a few things, documents that I had prepared in the evening and I ran out into the street. During the time I was out, two, three hours, the main door was forced open, clearly the firemen or police were opening the apartment doors searching for victims. I was alone in the flat when it happened.”
Russia launched its invasion by land, air and sea on Thursday (February 24) following a declaration of war by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It is the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two.
In the eastern town of Horlivka in Donetsk, the following graphic images highlight the extent of the destruction.
Bodies were carried out of destroyed buildings in the rebel-controlled town, where a school has been shelled and apartment blocks left in ruin.
Fuel, cash and medical supplies are running low in parts of Ukraine after Russia's invasion.
Something that, according to U.N. aid agencies, could drive up to 5 million people to flee abroad.
At least 100,000 people are uprooted in Ukraine after fleeing their homes since the assault began.
Tens of thousands have already crossed into neighboring countries including Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.
Most of the people who have crossed borders are women and children, after Kyiv restricted passage for men of conscription-age. They have been told to stay and fight.
