The dramatic story of a 78-year-old woman who lives in the building hit by a Russian missile in Kiev

Yaroslawa, 78, was sleeping in his apartment in Kyiv around 4 a.m. on Saturday when a Russian missile hit the building, his daughter Tetiana said from Lviv.

“He said there was a loud bang that shook the whole house,” said Tetiana, 52, who was in Lviv while trying to escape to Poland with her 26-year-old daughter Anna.

Tetiana remembered that during the night they had tried to locate her mother, but that they had not succeeded because he had taken refuge in a bomb-proof bunker. It wasn’t until later in the morning, when her mother went to see what had become of her apartment, that the two were able to speak.

Yaroslawa described a terrifying night to him: after the explosion, she was taken to a nearby school gym. An elderly woman died there of a heart attack, Tetiana said.

However, Yaroslawa does not intend to leave. “The elderly do not want to leave their homes”Tetiana said.

Their daughter, Anna, lived in Warsaw for six years and spoke to friends in Poland who have told her that volunteers there could help them if they could cross the border. But that will be a challenge.

At least six civilians were injured after a missile hit the high-rise building on the outskirts of Kiev, said Petro Prokopov, a firefighter involved in the rescue effort.

The building, located on the southwestern edge of the Ukrainian capital near Zhuliany airport, was hit by a missile between the 16th and 21st floors on Saturday. Two floors burned, the rescuer said, noting that 80 people were evacuated.

People on the spot report that there are queues of vehicles that stretch for miles. What’s more, men of fighting age cannot leave the country, so few drivers are willing to risk approaching the area. It is above all women and children who, at the moment, have the possibility of crossing into Poland.

AP Agency and The New York Times

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