‘My son is brave, but I see he's scared' How one family's life was disrupted

The first day of the invasion – 24 February – was my 15th wedding anniversary.

- 

We had planned a party and had booked a table in a restaurant.

But about 5am, my wife, my 10-year-old son and I were woken by Russian rockets flying over our home. The first thought was to grab everything we could and leave. But all the roads were blocked, and they were shelling us all the time. It was terrifying. So we went to a nearby underground car park and spent the whole day there.

There were about 60 people inside. It was cold, there was no heating and people were lying on the floor. Occasionally we dashed back to the apartment to get supplies. We were eating cookies and crisps, anything you could grab in a second.

We slept in the car, my son in the back seat, my wife and I in the front. It wasn’t very comfortable. We tried to think about our anniversary – about the wonderful 15 years we’d had together, that we have a son whom we love very much. But that first day – it was just about fear.

25 February

Waking up in the car felt horrible, my back was aching. In the morning the bombing was quiet – well, almost. We went home and quickly ate breakfast.

Ukrainians are friendly people and we know almost all of our neighbours well. So we organised getting food and water for those who couldn’t and made space in the car park for women with children to feed and change them in privacy.