A COUNTRY UNDER SIEGE

Yet even as the conflict drags into its third year since Russia's full-scale invasion, and the air raid sirens warn of another missile attack, Ukrainians believe they will triumph against their aggressor overwhelmingly

- 

FEW SOUNDS will make your blood run truly cold but the sorrowful wail of an air raid siren is one of them. I first heard the chilling, oscillating tones of the alert in Lviv a week ago, on Valentine's Day, as I visited the western Ukrainian city with Save The Children to learn about the impact of Russia's two-year-old invasion on civilians.

Yet nobody flinched in the meeting room of the government building I sat in. Not a single person moved. The threat was minor, it transpired, linked to a routine training flight.

And shortly afterwards I emerged into the bright afternoon sunshine, joining the throngs of people strolling Lviv's quaint streets as a second siren signalled the all-clear. But being jolted awake at 5am the next morning was different.

somewhere The previous evening between the time I was eating a tasty beef pie in the medieval-themed 5th Dungeon restaurant and a traditional Lviv cheesecake in a late-night chocolate cafe - Ukrainian drones were attacking a Russian landing ship off the coast of Crimea. Ukraine's military released video showing the Caesar Kunikov riddled with shots before it sank, while the Kremlin seethed in silence. Its brutal response came the next day.

In the early hours of dawn, Russian forces launched 26 missile attacks across seven Ukrainian regions, including Lviv.

Ukraine's air force shot down 13 of them but at least 11 people were injured, with schools and a kindergarten among the residential and commercial buildings hit, including on the outskirts of Lviv.

"Attention... Air Raid Alert...Proceed To The Nearest Shelter...Don't Be Careless... Overconfidence Is Your Weakness," blared throughout my hotel's speakers.