Ukraine war: ‘I want Putin to die’ – Shock and anger after dozens of Russian missiles hit Kyiv
I met Larysa standing on broken glass outside her Kyiv apartment block trying to convince two council workmen to come up to her flat and mend her shattered windows.
Only hours earlier she had been shaken to the core by a huge explosion in the residential complex car park three floors beneath her.
She invited us inside saying she had been terrified by the blast.
Larysa was clearly in shock and very teary.
Hypersonic missiles fired by Russia in hours of strikes – war latest
As we walked towards the entrance to her block I looked up; dozens and dozens of windows were shattered for floor after floor of the building.
Inside, the workmen started clearing up while we chatted.
“There was an explosion, and of course, I jumped immediately,” she told me.
“I just looked outside and saw people running, so I ran through my apartment and checked all my windows… and then I saw the ambulance and fire engines arrive 15 minutes later.”
She kept telling me how she worries about her grandchildren, so I asked her if she could try to explain to another grandmother in the UK what it’s like living through this war.
“Oh, don’t even ask, most of all I worry about my children and grandchildren, one of my sons is on the frontline, the oldest one. I don’t worry about myself, I have thick skin, so I am okay, but my children…”
‘Let them be cursed!’
Larysa grew increasingly upset as we spoke – and she is particularly upset with Russia, its people, and President Putin.
“May they be cursed! I hope they can hear me, even friends I have known there my whole life… let them be cursed!
“I don’t worry about myself, I’m old, but I worry about my children and grandchildren,” she reiterated.
“I want an end to this as soon as possible, I want Putin to die…”
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Shrapnel scars children’s playground
In the car park below, police searched for fragments of missile that hit this residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, in Svyatoshyns’kyi district. They were trying to figure out exactly what it was.
The Russians fired a whole range of weapons across the country, shattering the morning peace with devastating effect.
Cars here caught fire as the missile crashed into the ground, and dozens upon dozens of apartment windows were shattered in the blast.
The children’s playground wasn’t spared either – we saw shrapnel marks on the swings and slides.
A few men were surveying their damaged vehicles, seeing what they could repair.
“As you see, we just try to fix the problem and continue to live and hope for the best… all the wars in history come to an end, so I hope it will be fast and peace will come soon,” one of them told me.
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Strikes and sirens are part of life in Kyiv
Council workers began delivering large rolls of plastic sheeting for people to repair their windows as best as possible.
It is relatively mild here in Ukraine at the moment, but the temperatures can plunge in a matter of hours.
This was a massive Russian attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and one of the targets was a power station in Kyiv, which burnt through the morning.
By the time we got to it, the fire was out, but there have been power cuts caused by the attack.
Air raid sirens periodically sounded throughout the day here in the capital, and after three weeks of relative quiet, we watched as some residents once again returned to the metro to await the all-clear.
This surprised me; that even after all this time people still run for shelter when the sirens ring out.
It’s part of life here now.
