Anxious Ukrainians recall last words with loved ones in besieged Mariupol

Olga Ponomarenko, a resident of the besieged city of Mariupol, is pictured in this undated handout image supplied by her mother-in-law. Handout via REUTERS

Victoria Zaburyna had urged her 76-year-old mother to flee the Russian forces that now besiege Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine. She replied that the city was still calm and had stayed put.

Then her mother called to say that she was sheltering in a hallway after a bomb or shell had destroyed a nearby school, peppering her apartment block with debris.