Huddled in the basement of their apartment block on the left bank of Kyiv, James Gibson and his wife Anna Matiunina had just 10 minutes to decide whether to stay or go.
Russian troops edged closer to the Ukrainian capital but making a break for a neighbouring country wasn’t without risk as the invading forces’ grip on the ground, the sea and the sky tightened by the minute.
Explosions pierced the eerie silence in between the chilling sirens outside their 25-storey tower block and the husband and wife opted to take the lifeline offer of a car out of the city with a person they barely knew.
