'I really want a smoke': Man walks away from rubble-strewn tomb after being stuck under debris for hours in missile attack

In the city of Kharkiv, every neighbourhood has been touched by war. But there are some districts here that have been blown to bits.

At 8.15am, a Russian missile sliced through Kharkiv’s National Institute for Public Administration.

The three-storey reception hall in this Soviet-era building had been reduced to a pile of dust.

The fire department pulled one lifeless body from the debris, and officials told us that 11 others had been injured.

A little later, however, they received a telephone call from someone stuck under the rubble.

He was lodged in a crawl space, encased by bricks and concrete slabs, and a dust-covered rescue worker called Daniel described where he thought he was.

“I need to go deeper, from this side. I used my torch and he saw me.”

“He saw your torch, or your hand?” said his colleague.

“Yes, he saw the torch. He’s one and a half or two metres away.”

I asked Daniel how he thought the rescue operation was going.

“There’s a big blockage because of the steel and there is a lot of furniture down there.

“But we are working, don’t worry.”

Live Ukraine updates: 1,300 still trapped under theatre rubble

They used shovels, buckets and their bare hands and there was a clear sense of urgency. It was well below freezing, and the rescuers knew the man under the rubble wouldn’t make it through the night.

“Give me a blade that cuts wood, not a blade that cuts metal,” said one rescuer called Vladimir. “Give me that one,” he begged.

The team worked under near-constant shelling, with plumes of smoke marking the sky.

The Russian military claims it does not target towns and cities, but the battered streets of Kharkiv tell a different story.

When the city’s air raid sirens began to wail, we joined most members of the search and rescue team as they headed for cover between several residential buildings.

A few minutes later, the sirens were switched off and as we walked back to the institute, we found a man called Vladislav walking away from his rubble-strewn tomb.

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He was covered in dust and there was blood smeared on his forehead, but when I asked how he was, he sounded surprisingly cheerful. “Better than ever, but I really want a smoke.”

His rescuers were quick to oblige and within seconds, Vladislav was consuming his first cigarette in eight or so hours.

“Is there anything you would like to say to the rescue team,” I asked.

“I am really grateful, for the rest of life, they are just brilliant, they do a hard and important job. I have no words.”

He is a fortunate man.

The search and rescue team are needed in every single neighbourhood in Kharkiv, but when they heard Vladislav’s voice they would not give up, and they have earned a small but precious victory.

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