'I'm scared': Life inside Kharkiv's bomb shelters
STORY: As the war in Ukraine enters its third week - Kharkiv, the country’s second biggest city is under bombardment.
For the city’s remaining residents, the metro system has now become more than just a shelter.
It is home to hundreds of the city’s men, women and children.
And their beloved pets.
Together they sleep and eat in the train carriages, next to the ticket machines and on the platforms under high street fashion adverts.
While some sit on their phones, others do their laundry and mothers feed their babies.
But underneath the snowy streets, another danger is spreading.
One that Nastya is all too aware of.
SICK GIRL, NASTYA SAYING: “There is a virus circulating around here, and I got it.
REPORTER ASKING: “Do you have a temperature?”
NASTYA ANSWERING: “I don’t know. Perhaps, I have a temperature.”
REPORTER ASKING: “Is it cold here?”
NASTYA ANSWERING: “It’s warm in the carriage, but it’s quite cool on the platform itself.”
REPORTER ASKING: “How long have you been staying here?”
NASTYA ANSWERING: "Around 7-8 days.”
Talking to our reporter, Nastya says she is longing for the war to be over so she can go home and sleep.
“I’m scared for my home, for the homes of my friends, very scared for the whole country, and scared for myself of course.”
For Kharkiv’s residents, the priority is now surviving the bombing.
The city that has suffered some of the heaviest shelling since the Russian invasion began last month.
According to the local governor, Russian forces have shelled residential areas of the city 89 times in one day.
Valentyna, an elderly woman nearby, recalls the moment her apartment building was hit by shelling, describing the smoke and panelling falling down.
During the bombing, an institute containing a nuclear laboratory was also hit, the local governor said on Friday.
Though he maintained there was no danger to the civilian population yet.
Kharkiv’s Mayor also said 48 schools had been destroyed in the city, which has a peacetime population of about 1.4 million.
The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said over 2.3 million people have fled Ukraine following Russia's invasion, which Moscow calls a "special operation" to "de-Nazify" the country. It denies targeting civilians.
