Escapees recount terror of Russian-occupied Izyum
"We thought those were our last minutes. It was extremely scary but we were lucky."
Elena is recalling the moment Russian troops started shelling, after she and a group of escapees passed through one of their checkpoints.
After two months living in the basement of a kindergarten in the Russian-occupied town of Izyum in Ukraine, Elena spent two nerve-shredding days on the road to safety. She and her daughter were among 20 people in a convoy of vehicles heading away from Russian-controlled territory. They fled last Friday using a route organised by volunteers.
You can also listen to my piece on Izyum on BBC R4’s From Our Own Correspondent