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Kharkiv woman refuses to flee embattled city: audio report

21.03.2022 18:30
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, located in the country's north, has suffered continuous shelling by Russian forces since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Audio
A residential building damaged by Russian shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 20, 2022.
A residential building damaged by Russian shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 20, 2022.Photo: EPA/VASYL ZHLOBSKY

According to regional emergency services, at least 500 people have been killed there so far while a large number of its 1.5 million residents have left the city.

Some, however, have refused to do so.

One of them is Anastasia, who survived the bombings while hiding for 11 days in her apartment bathroom.

"I am trying to stay here as long as I can because it is my city and I have to be there," she told Polish Radio's reporter on the ground, Paweł Kurek.

"To go to Europe is not my priority now," she added.

Click on the audio player above to listen.