Residents fleeing town near Kyiv caught in shelling

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” designed to destroy its neighbour’s military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy remains in Ukraine and has called on his people to defend their country.

Kateryna Laskari, a production company executive, left her home city Kyiv soon after the invasion began.

She reached a small village 50km away where her family has a house, and has stayed there with her three-year-old son, Simon, her pregnant sister, who is due to give birth in two weeks and their parents.

“Of course, I’m frightened as is everybody, but I have so many people I’m responsible for. I’m responsible for my family, I’m responsible for my business,” she told Reuters via Zoom.

“But to tell the truth, I thought I would be even more frightened. Now I feel like a soldier. I feel that I have a lot of energy to just to fight, because I know that we will win.”