The Times @thetimes
As the fighting raged around them, the Zakharchuk family heaved themselves out of the wreckage of their house and ran for it. They only made it as far as their next-door neighbours’, but at least it was intact and unshelled
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/one-kyiv-familys-flight-to-safety-tells-the-tale-of-horror-of-russian-shelling-hzfst65rc?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1647842164
One Kyiv family’s flight to safety tells the tale of horror of Russian shelling
As Russia’s strategy changes and the capital becomes a city under siege hospitals in surrounding areas are seeing more civilian casualties
Bogdan, 17, was seared on his face and body, and had shrapnel embedded in a broken upper arm. His mother and stepfather (pictured) had severe burns too from the missile that had landed on the house, but for two days they could all only shelter and hide the best they could
They had no phone left to call for help, and in any case there was no way for help to arrive through the battlefield. Ambulance crews say that they cannot go to the front for fear of being shot at
The cavalry — in the form of the Ukrainian army — arrived to save them on Friday. They dashed to the road to meet them, and were driven to the hospital in the nearby town of Brovary, east of Kyiv, where they lay on Saturday afternoon, still in a state of shock
“For two days, I was freezing, and in so much pain,” Bogdan said. He described how the Russian soldiers came through their village, Zalyssia, a few miles north east of Brovary, and then how the Ukrainians pushed back and took over again, enabling their escape
Blood and pus seeped through the bandages swathing his face, arm and back. A wisp of teenage beard partially hid a child’s face whose eyes were downcast and fearful
His tale of the battle would seem to confirm a picture of Kyiv being a city under siege, holding out against overwhelming Russian forces.
In fact, the pain of the Zakharchuk family is more emblematic of a shift in the war, and in Russian strategy
The last week has seen light but regular and random shelling of Kyiv’s suburbs, assumed by its defenders to be a sign of Russian weakness, with Moscow’s tanks having been unable to get near the city itself
That would match Russian tactics in other wars, in which cities are softened up by attacks on residential areas in order to weaken morale in advance of a main attack.
However, it could also be a sign that the Russian generals have switched their main attention elsewhere
It is clear on the ground that the Russians have given up any immediate attempt to capture or even surround Kyiv
Instead, they want to hold up Ukrainian troops there, and keep the city’s residents on edge, while their greater strength in numbers strips Ukraine of territory that is more useful to President Putin’s longer term chances of claiming a victory