Volunteers in the besieged city of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine are working to find new ways to get supplies in and people out after an air strike that destroyed a bridge crucial for bringing in food and aid.
The city is without running water, electricity or gas and residents have been forced to ration water supplies since the aid and evacuation corridor was destroyed on Wednesday (local time).
A local government official in Chernihiv, Olexander Lomako, said a "humanitarian catastrophe" was unfolding as Russian forces targeted food storage sites.
He estimated that more than 130,000 people were left in the city out of a pre-war population of 285,000, but said Ukraine remained in full control.
"Chernihiv is under total control of Ukrainian army. Ukrainian flag waves here," he said.
'No-one wants to give up'
Dmytro Blaush, 29, is deputy chairman of the Chernihiv Regional Council and has been volunteering alongside others to help those who remain to access supplies and evacuate the city.
"But that's stopped now the bridge has been destroyed," he said.
"So now we are working on how to reconnect and find a new way [out of Chernihiv].
"There is one more way out, but on foot and it's risky.
"It is closed due to constant shelling. But we find ways."
In the meantime, he said, volunteers continued to prepare meals for the city's "defenders" and most vulnerable, including for those in bomb shelters.
"For residents, it is targeted assistance: food [and] medicine for the disabled, the older generation, bedridden and women with children," he said.
He said the support from a US-based Ukrainian woman, Tatyana Turksuwho, in raising money for Chernihiv — her home city — had helped efforts on the ground.
"People are tired, exhausted, but no-one wants to give up," he said.
"Everyone understands that we are defending. Everyone hopes that Ukraine will be supported by Western partners and will close the sky."
Chernihiv is an ancient city north-east of Kyiv on the Desna River and is known for its historical architecture.
"Chernihiv is more than 1,300 years old," Mr Blaush said.
Mr Blaush said there was a saying: "When in Chernihiv the domes of the temples were already standing, in Moscow the frogs were still croaking."
City bombed 'day and night'
Yurii Polianytsia, 30, also assists with evacuations in Chernihiv. He said people were now being evacuated by boat on the Desna River to Kyiv but the process was very slow.
"They keep bombing all the time, day and night ... they basically just drop bombs everywhere.
The bombing of the bridge marked one month since Russian forces invaded Ukraine, during which time Chernihiv has been consistently targeted by air strikes and fighting.
CNN reported that a video from Chernihiv's Mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko showed badly damaged buildings and rubble-strewn streets, while still-burning fires filled the air with heavy smoke.
Helen Lysenko, now in Germany, built her life in Chernihiv but fled Ukraine with her children and animals still in their pyjamas once the war broke out.
"Right now Chernihiv is collapsed. They have very hard and serious humanitarian issues," the 32-year-old said.
"I would also like to say, Ukraine has never been as united as it is right now."
Ukraine's armed forces chief of staff said on Thursday Russia was still trying to resume offensives to claim the cities of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Mariupol and Kharkiv.
The ABC's Barbara Miller said there were fears Chernihiv could become "the new Mariupol".
Mariupol is a port city in the country's east that was decimated by relentless attacks by Russian forces, leaving civilians trapped without water or food.
'Our children are dying'
Kateryna Mytkevich, 39, who arrived in Poland after fleeing Chernihiv, wiped away tears as she described how entire neighbourhoods had been destroyed.
"I don't understand why we have such a curse," she said.
She said her family was trapped in Chernihiv for three weeks and hoped the war would pass it by. Then "bombs began to fall".
"Our children are dying," she said.
"My son had to stay in Chernihiv. I could only take my daughter with me. It hurts a lot."
Volodymr Fedorovych, 77, also fled Chernihiv.
Mr Fedorovych said bread was brought in every three days, and on one day, he walked away from the bread line to get some tea when a bomb fell without warning.
"Sixteen people died and 47 were taken by ambulance, some of them without arms and legs. Horrible," he said.
"There were 100 people in that queue."
Ukrainian officials have said that 10 people were killed in a bombing of a bread line last week.
The Mayor said the northern Ukrainian city's cemetery could not handle all the dead as the Russian onslaught took its toll on the civilian population.
"We are located right now in the zone of combat."
ABC/wires
