CHERNIHIV, Ukraine (NewsNation) — While much of the focus on Russia’s shelling of Ukraine has focused on Kyiv and the eastern portion of the country, many other areas are also under siege.
Yulia Zhdanova, a mother of two who survived an airstrike in her hometown of Chernihiv, captured video that shows what Ukrainian civilians are up against.
Zhdanova and her children are exhausted after days of air raid sirens. When they finally thought they had a chance to leave shelter and return to their home for food, she received an alert on her phone saying the worse was coming.
“I cried, shouted to my family to go behind the walls in the corridor,” she said. When we got into the corridor, we heard a very loud explosion. It was so noisy and so loud. The windows were broken, and they were flying into ours.
They were instructed to leave their home. When they did, she saw her husband’s parents’ home on fire.
“My husband ran to that house and there were a lot of bodies,” she said. “Some people were dead.”
Zhdanova said her in-laws survived, but 47 people were killed. She said her neighborhood is strictly a residential area with no military targets. The city of Chernihiv has a population of approximately 285,000.
“I must emphasize that that is the place where just people live,” she said. “There are no military strategy points.”
Her children are 11 and 13. Zhdanova said they’re very aware of what’s happening around them.
“That is the reality that is a war. But I must say that when there was an explosion which was near our house, they were so scared,” said Zhdanova. “They cried, of course. They asked me whether they will stay alive or not.”
There are efforts being made to create new humanitarian corridors around Chernihiv for people to escape, according to Ukrainian officials.