'The gates of insanity on the edge of humanity': Ukrainian woman sends video showing life in bunker amid Russian siege

A 22-year-old Ukrainian woman has provided first-hand insight into living in the country under Russian siege, via a video she has sent the media, saying it is like “the gates of insanity on the edge of humanity”.

Olha Oltarzhevska has explained how before the war started, she lived “without knowing grief”, studied at university in Kyiv, played musical instruments, started taking Spanish courses and “lived a happy life” – and has for the past four years worked as a public relations specialist.

"Previously, I communicated with local media, but now, due to circumstances, I switched to international ones,” she said, adding that amid Russians having been “mercilessly” bombing her city for a fortnight, she and her family have been living in the basement for more than a week now, with children, the youngest of whom is a two-year-old.

"It’s the gates of insanity on the edge of humanity,” she states. "Explosions are heard every day. For the time being, we are not going to run anywhere from the city or from the country. Firstly, it is very risky, and secondly, our neighbours brought their children and a large number of pets to us. Therefore, we must take care of them. We are the only ones who have a basement in the house.”

She also cited a friend saying her mother gave an update on the situation in Mariupol. The city, which has a population of 446,000, has come under attack, with a children's hospital and maternity ward severely damaged last week, killing three people, and which Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced as an “atrocity”. Mariupol has seen its death toll pass 1,500 in 12 days of attack, the mayor's office said.

The Ukrainian government said on Saturday that Russian forces pounding the port city shelled a mosque that was sheltering more than 80 people, including children, while fighting raged in the outskirts of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, and Russia kept up its bombardment of other resisting cities.

Ukraine's military said on Saturday that Russian forces captured Mariupol's eastern outskirts, tightening the armed squeeze on the strategic city. Taking Mariupol and other ports on the Azov Sea could allow Russia to establish a land corridor to Crimea, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.

Ms Oltarzhevska, pictured prior to the invasion by Russia, says: 'Previously, I communicated with local media, but now, due to circumstances, I switched to international ones.' Pictured: contributed.

Ms Oltarzhevska said her friend said: “There is no water, no food, people are sitting in the bunker, everyone is vomiting... people are dying just from dehydration, all humanitarian convoys heading to Mariupol are being shelled by the Russian military, people are lying in the streets, they are gone. It's genocide.

"The Russian military wanted to blow up a nuclear power plant in our country, they are aiming at hospitals, kindergartens and even dropped a bomb on... cemeteries.”

Ms Oltarzhevska added that Russia is waging war “not only on the battlefield, but also on the information front” – while she praised Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky as “very brave”.

Her update adds to the reports coming from the besieged country that reveal the impact of attacks, including an image from photographer Sergei Supinsky showing an abandoned doll next to a car riddled with bullets in Irpin, just north of Kyiv.

Other developments include President Zelensky accusing Russia of kidnapping the mayor of the southern port city of Melitopol.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.