'People were lying at my feet. I told them: get up, get up. They were silent'

Alla Shyrshonkova was on the 62 bus when Russian missiles fell on a warm spring day. She staggered out into a vision of hell.

- Luke Harding

Last weekend, Alla Shyrshonkova got on the 62 bus on a journey to her cottage near the Ukrainian city of Sumy. It was a warm spring day. "I thought I'd sit with friends, have some tea. Birds were singing. The weather was beautiful. It was so nice," she recalled.

"The bus was packed. There wasn't a single free seat. People were standing. Some were going to church for Palm Sunday. There were families with children."

As she reached the city centre, she heard a loud bang. Two minutes later as the bus made its way down Petropavlivska Street there was a second massive explosion. "The blast was in front of me, so I didn't see it. I only heard it. I was sitting behind the driver, with my back to him. When I heard the noise, I covered my head with my hands and ducked."

After that, she said, "rocks, glass and everything went flying". Shyrshonkova lifted her head. Blood was gushing "like a fountain" from her arm. "I saw cars on fire and smoke. People were lying at my feet. I said to them: 'Get up, get up. They were silent."

A conductor called the name of the driver "Kolya" but there was no reply. Passengers tried to climb out of a window. Eventually, a teenage boy opened a door and she staggered out.

The double strike on Sumy was the bloodiest single moment this year in Russia's murderous war against Ukraine. The Iskander ballistic missiles carried deadly cluster munitions which released a wave of shrapnel. Thirty-five people were killed.

Two of the victims buried last week were children, aged eleven and seven. Sumy residents left toys at the spot where they perished: a bear, a hippo, a toy car and a football.