"Every day they are hoping for the Ukrainian army, every day they are hoping to be found," says Zhenia Myronenko, a refugee whose family has been cornered in the southern city of Kherson by Russian forces. The 36-year-old arrived in Nottinghamshire having escaped Ukraine earlier this year, and while she was fortunate enough to have fled with her life, her fears are only becoming graver for her family.
Ms Myronenko arrived safely in the UK on June 11, having mercifully been living in an apartment in the capital of Kyiv, which remains out of the grasp of Russian forces. Her parents, who are in their 60s, were not so lucky.
They were quickly trapped in Kherson, which sits to the south and is occupied by Russian forces, alongside Ms Myronenko's 33-year-old sister and her niece, who is just five. And just today (August 29) Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced his forces would be launching a counter-offensive on Russian president Vladimir Putin's army, with the aim of retaking the city on the Dnipro River.
