Relentless drone and guided bomb strikes are driving residents to flee Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, which shares a border with Russia.
Civilians have been scrambling for safety amid intense Russian attacks in recent days.
“I was afraid to spend the night [at home]. I had not signed up [for evacuation],” said Halyna, an elderly woman who lives in a village that came under attack on March 21.
Moscow has ramped up attack across Ukraine after agreeing to stop attacks on energy infrastructure for 30 days in the country following a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump on March 18.
Earlier, the Kremlin rejected a month-long cease-fire agreed by Washington and Kyiv.
"I didn’t want to leave my home. I’ve lived here for 50 years," Lyubov, an elderly woman in Sumy, said after a barrage of drone and guided missile attacks. "But there was no choice in this situation."
Valentyna, another older woman in Sumy, said Russia dropped guided bombs on the center of her village.
“Our house was not destroyed, but all of the windows were shattered,” she said.
Red Cross workers and the White Angels, a Ukrainian police unit that assists civilians, have helped Sumy residents flee to the city of Sumy, the regional capital.
“There were explosions everywhere,” said an elderly man evacuated by rescue workers.
“Some drones were following us, but we got out successfully,” said Ihor Shapoval, a Red Cross worker.
He said they evacuated people from their homes in the early hours of March 21 after persistent attacks targeting several villages in Sumy.
Meanwhile, Russian attacks killed an entire family in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhya on March 22.
“The bodies of the daughter and father were pulled from under the rubble,” said Ivan Fedorov, the head of the regional military administration.
He said doctors tried to save the life of the 38-year-old mother, but she succumbed to her injuries 10 hours after she was rushed to the hospital.
