One of the bloodiest chapters of the war in Ukraine has been depicted in words and drawings by 8-year-old Iegor Kravtsov as Mariupol came under fire by Russian forces.
Iegor Kravtsov was forced to spend weeks in a basement with his mother and sister after their home, not far from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, was hit by a Russian missile.
Keeping a journal became a way for the boy both to occupy his time spent underground and to deal with the death of his grandfather during the shelling on April 26.
The family eventually managed to flee to Zaporizhzhia, 225 kilometers to the northeast of Mariupol in territory under Ukriainian control, where journalists from partner channel France 2 met with Iegor, his mother Olena Kravtsova, and his sister Veronika.
"I have a wound on my back. The skin is ripped off. My sister's head is broken. My mom tore her hand muscles, and has a hole in her leg", reads Iegor from the diary.
The family is now being housed in a shelter for displaced people and hopes to reach Kyiv.
Click on the player above to watch the report in full.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
