'Will you fight Russia, Dad': In Ukraine, war becomes a family concern
Alex, 38, was heading west from Kyiv by car on Friday to find somewhere safe for his wife, son and daughter. Once he had, Alex was heading back to the capital to join the fight against Russia.
As a native of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, this is the second time that Alex has found his home city under attack. Last time, the battle was lost. This time would be different.
“We have no fear. We are not afraid. We see how we are beating the Russians,” he told Euronews over the phone from somewhere in western Ukraine.
“Maybe the Russians have more soldiers but they don’t know what they are fighting for. They were just ordered by Putin to fight. We are defending our land, our cities, our families, our homes.”
For weeks, Alex said, Ukrainians have been preparing for the war that many predicted would come as Russia massed troops on the border and backed the separatist forces in Donetsk and Luhansk.
His children, 11 and six, had spent time drawing up evacuation plans with instructions as to which parent should bring the medicine (their mother) and which should bring the food (Alex). On the day of the invasion, his 11-year-old daughter was furiously WhatsApping her school friends.
She looked up from her phone, he recalled, and said: “A lot of my friends, their fathers are fighting back: will you?”
“Of course it is frightening but they’re not scared. They know what needs to be done,” he said.
Russia claimed on Friday that it had taken a major airport seven kilometres northwest of Kiev and destroyed dozens of military institutions, tanks, drones and airplanes. Moscow said that 200 Ukrainian special forces soldiers were killed and that Russia suffered no losses in the attack.
Ukraine has claimed that over 1,000 Russian soldiers have been killed,
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