Hunkered in a basement, five-year-old Nikolai clasps a teddy bear as missiles explode in the distance.
The youngster, who is the son of a British expat, was due to go to kindergarten on Thursday. Instead, he was woken by the piercing sound of tracer fire, rockets and shells.
Since then, he has spent hours underground in the cold bunker of his flats complex in Kharkiv with a few toys for company.
His father Jacques Quigley said: “He told me, ‘We are fighting for Ukraine ’. He understands that something serious is going on. He saw soldiers with guns and asked me, ‘Daddy, can I have a Nerf gun to protect us?’ It’s horrendous. Our son does not deserve this.”
Jacques, 29, an IT worker from Warwickshire, met his Ukrainian wife Kat, 31, while working in the US. They moved to Kharkiv in 2015, where Nikolai was born.
Speaking to the Sunday People, Jacques said he is prepared to arm himself to protect his family – and has vowed not to flee.
He said: “I’m a British citizen but Ukraine is now my home. If that means I have to bear arms to protect my family and my city, I will.
“What this country has worked for is being destroyed and we need to stand up to it. If I have to, I will take on Putin’s mob. I’m not scared – I’m angry. I’ve got a crowbar and a Taser and I’m on the search for an AK-47 or a pistol.”
Kharkiv is normally a thriving metropolis – a tech hub nicknamed Ukraine’s Silicon Valley.
The country’s second city, just south of the Russian border, has come under a sustained barrage.
One rocket landed in a nearby playground but failed to explode.
Jacques said: “You can hear the gunfire getting louder. They’ve put blockades around the city. The mood is tense, everyone is on edge.”
One Ukrainian now living in the UK told how he wants to return to help fight for freedom. Roman Yuriychuk, a security guard in Nottingham, was in the Soviet special forces for three years, until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Despite having five children here in the UK, he is considering travelling to his homeland. He said: “I’d go bac to fight for my country. I think about this every minute.
“I will make this decision soon. I am willing to risk my life to fight for Ukraine’s freedom.”
His 86-year-old mother and his brother, 59, are in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. He said: “They are in West Ukraine. The Russians are concentrating on Kyiv but I think they will go to the Western part last. There, everyone is incredibly patriotic and they will fight.
“We call Ukraine our mother and we will fight for our mother. I think Ukraine will defeat Russia.”
Across Ukraine, defiant citizens are arming themselves with whatever they can – and sharing instructions for making Molotov cocktails on social media. And MPs and their staff are refusing to flee and also taking up arms. Sviatoslav Yurash, 26, the nation’s youngest MP, was on the streets of Kyiv with an AK-47 – despite having no training. He said: “This is a struggle for our very existence. We don’t have a choice. We must stay, we must fight.
Inna Sovsun, deputy leader of the pro-European party Holos, added: “I did receive a weapon. I am not trained. I am a political scientist elected to parliament.
“It is as weird as it sounds. If someone said this even three days ago, I wouldn’t have believed them. But I am not surrendering.”
Former heavyweight boxing champ Wladimir Klitschko and his brother Vitali, also a former heavyweight champ and now mayor of Kyiv, have also vowed to fight for their homeland.
Calling on the world to help, 45-year-old Wladimir, who joined Ukraine’s reserve army earlier this month, said today: “You need to act now. In an hour, or by tomorrow, it’s going to be too late.”
