- Title: Kharkiv bomb shelter: the only home 6-month-old Zhenia has known
- Date: 14th October 2022
- Summary: KHARKIV, UKRAINE (OCTOBER 13, 2022) (REUTERS) OLHA WALKING DOWN THE STAIRS TO THE BOMB SHELTER, SIGN ON THE WALL SAYING "BOMB SHELTER" VARIOUS INTERIOR OF BOMB SHELTER OLHA ENTERING ROOM INSIDE BOMB SHELTER OLHA TAKING IN HER ARMS HE BABY SON ZHENIA (SOUNDBITE) OLHA SHEVCHENKO, 39-YEAR-OLD MOTHER OF THREE, HOLDING GRISHA ON HER LAP, SAYING: "We were woken up at five in the morning by the sound of bombs. We live about 20-25 kilometres from the border, we could hear everything well. At 6 a.m. the suburban trains stopped running, so we could not leave. But our neighbours gave us a lift in their car." LIGHT BULB IN THE SHELTER (SOUNDBITE) OLHA SHEVCHENKO, 39-YEAR-OLD MOTHER OF THREE SAYING: "When I left (home in Prudyanka) I was pregnant. This little one was born here. When labour started I was taken to the maternity hospital, from here. I arrived at the hospital at six in the morning, he was born at 7.40. The following day in the afternoon we checked out of hospital. CLOSE OF BABY (SOUNDBITE) OLHA SHEVCHENKO, 39-YEAR-OLD MOTHER OF THREE SAYING: "We will surely spend winter here because we have nowhere else to go, nowhere to stay. We are not going to go back home because first of all in order to rebuild it, clean it all, it is not a job for one day." OLHA SITTING WITH BABY ZHENIA (SOUNDBITE) OLHA SHEVCHENKO, 39-YEAR-OLD MOTHER OF THREE SAYING: "Today, as soon as we left the shelter to go to the clinic, there was an air raid alarm so we turned back and went downstairs straight away. Two, three weeks ago there was a blast which shattered all windows in this building." TOYS OLHA FEEDING ZHENIA OLHA SHOWING HER POSSESSIONS IN THE SHELTER BOOKS OLHA PICKING UP BOOKS FROM FLOOR OLHA IN THE KITCHEN CORNER IN THE SHELTER FOOD BEING COOKED ON PORTABLE STOVE VARIOUS OF OLHA IN THE KITCHEN CORNER OLD POWER GENERATOR REINFORCED SHELTER DOOR (SOUNDBITE) OLHA SHEVCHENKO, 39-YEAR-OLD MOTHER OF THREE SAYING: "I knew this bomb shelter because when I was a little girl I saw it with my grandpa. I asked him what it was for and he said 'For when the war comes but hopefully you will never have to see it again.' OLHA SMILING SARCASTICALLY, SAYING "Well, now I have." METAL DOOR LOCK OLHA TURNING DOOR LOCK VARIOUS OF ZHENIA PLAYING WITH TOY OWL MILK BOTTLE FOOD SUPPLIES ELECTRIC HEATER, KID'S PLASTIC BATH OLHA HOLDING ZHENIA IN HER ARMS, HER HUSBAND EVGEN OPENING DOOR OLHA AND EVGEN WALKING TOGETHER IN THE SHELTER CORRIDOR OLHA WALKING UPSTAIRS OLHA WITH ZHENIA AND HER HUSBAND WALKING OUTSIDE OLHA WITH ZHENIA OUTSIDE OLHA AND EVGEN PUTTING ZHENIA IN A PRAM OLHA WALKING WITH THE PRAM EXTERIOR OF PLANT WHERE EVGEN WORKS GATE LEADING TO THE PLANT
- Embargoed: 28th October 2022 11:01
- Keywords: Kharkiv Russian attack Ukraine all life in shelter baby bomb shelter pregnant
- Location: PRUDYANKA AND KHARKIV, UKRAINE
- City: PRUDYANKA AND KHARKIV, UKRAINE
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe,Military Conflicts,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA003223814102022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Wide-eyed and gripping a stuffed blue rabbit, six-month-old Zhenia settles into his pram before being walked along a Kharkiv factory forecourt - a treat to be savoured for someone who has lived in a bomb shelter since he was born.
Pushing the buggy is his mother, 39-year-old Olha Shevchenko.
Seven months pregnant when the war broke out on Feb 24, her house in the Ukrainian village of Prudyanka was destroyed by shelling that same morning.
"We were woken up at five in the morning by the sound of bombs. At 6 a.m. the suburban trains stopped running, so we could not leave," she told Reuters.
Fearing that advancing Russian troops would soon reach her home, lying north of Kharkiv some 20 km (12 miles) from the border, she eventually managed to escape in a neighbour's car with her two older sons, Nikolay, 17 and Andriy, 16.
When they reached Ukraine's second city she rejoined her husband Evgen and, offered a refuge in the shelter underneath the factory where he works, they moved in.
Nikolay and Andriy left for Poland last month, where friends helped arrange accommodation and schooling for them.
But the rest of the family remains in the brick and concrete surroundings that, for Olha, have a disconcerting familiarity.
"I knew this bomb shelter because when I was a little girl I saw it with my grandpa. I asked him what it was for and he said 'For when the war comes but hopefully you will never have to see it again'. Well, now I have," she said, with a rueful smile.
Zhenia was born in a nearby maternity hospital some two months after they moved in.
"The following day in the afternoon we checked out of hospital to come here," Olha added, cradling her baby as they sat on a bed inside the bunker.
With renewed shelling of Kharkiv making it increasingly dangerous for them to be outside, the family have worked hard to make the shelter as liveable as possible.
It is linked to the power grid and equipped it with basic cooking facilities, food, books, toys and even a TV - all part of preparations for what they expect to be longer haul underground.
"We will surely spend winter here because we have nowhere else to go," Olha said. "We are not going to go back home (to Prudyanka) because first of all in order to rebuild it, clean it all, it is not a job for one day."
(Production: Vitalii Hnidyi, Sergiy Voloshin, Stefaniia Bern, Anna Dabrowska) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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