Freed but city still lives in fear of attack

Healing wounds of war after brutal occupation

- BY SIMON MURPHY

ALINA was just about to eat lunch when war arrived at her home. Just days after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, she was served a taste of the horror in an air attack.

The mum, who was pregnant at the time, somehow escaped injury.

As she recalls events that day, Alina says she feels lucky to be alive.

We met her in Balakliia in Kharkiv oblast, northeast Ukraine, a small frontline city that fell under Kremlin occupation for around six months from early March 2022.

Alina and her husband fled just in time with their daughter, nine.

The moment in late February that year that sparked the family’s departure could hardly have been a closer brush with death. Food had been served but they did not even have a chance to take a bite.

Alina, 33, says: "We were not in a shelter. The attack seriously damaged the roof, shattered the windows, and blew out part of a wall.

"We barely had time to drop to the floor. We immediately decided that we were leaving. We took only the essentials some belongings and documents got into the car, and drove away. Miraculously, none of us were injured. It felt as if we were protected by some higher power.

"But unfortunately, not everyone was as lucky as we were."

The city went on to endure shocking hardship during Russia’s occupation. The Kremlin’s military were found to have illegally detained at least 200 locals and set up a torture chamber in the city’s police station.