They are not military medics. Just ordinary doctors and nurses who, two weeks ago, were dealing with births, broken bones and the natural medical challenges you’d find in any community.

Now they’re patching together bodies blown apart by bombs and bullets.

An old, what looks like a Soviet-era car, comes screeching into the hospital nearest to this frontline on the northern edges of the Ukrainian capital.

There’s a soldier stuffed into the tiny boot and as he’s helped out by the waiting emergency workers, he drops his weapon on the ground in panic. He looks pale and shocked.

Their position has just been shelled. It’s a couple of kilometres away from where we are. The front door of the hospital is shattered with bullet holes.

“They respect nothing,” the hospital director tells us.

We see the random and indiscriminate hits as we walk around the shattered homes, now abandoned.

Ukraine war: Britons to be asked to welcome Ukrainian refugees into their homes

Ukraine war: Russian soldiers edge closer to Kyiv – as satellite images show large convoy ‘has dispersed’

Ukraine war: Alexander Litvinenko’s widow Marina says UK should ‘absolutely’ waive visas for fleeing refugees

The destroyed farmhouses are just outside the Kyiv city boundaries but within the Kyiv Oblast (region). There is a backdrop of artillery booming constantly.

“Be quick,” the emergency worker we are with, cautions us.

His house is five houses away from this shell of a home we are looking at. The roof is off and a huge mangled piece of corrugated metal is now hanging on the washing line where family clothes would have been pinned up to dry a fortnight ago.

The Kyiv city authorities say half of the city’s population has now fled the capital where nearly three million normally live.

We walk down steps to a shadowy, dimly lit underground world in a small community on the northwest city limits and find women busy looking after and comforting a group of elderly folk who can’t or won’t leave.

They are frightened and a young woman called Natalia is spending a lot of time hugging and comforting them.

There are about 12 camp beds set out in the room they are in. The elderly are already tucked up in blankets to keep warm.

“We’ve tried to keep it warm down here,” Natalia says.

There are heaters in every room and they’ve turned several of the rooms into camping dormitories lined with rugs, the beds all pressed up against each other to accommodate as many people as possible.

“We just keep going, waiting for victory,” the woman charged with cooking tells us. “And try not to cry.”

Related posts:

‘Coronavirus could not stop me’: Millions of Indians travel to celebrate religious festival Whistleblower claims WHO tried to force him to change report about Italy’s pandemic protocols Grieving father says children killed ‘without warning’ after Israeli strike hits house in Gaza Israeli PM Netanyahu vows to keep using ‘full force’ in Gaza as overnight airstrike death toll reaches 42 More than a million urged to evacuate as heavy rain sparks floods and mudslides in Japan At least 20 dead and dozens injured after fuel tank explodes in Lebanon Haiti earthquake death toll jumps to 724 as rescuers search rubble for survivors Taliban declares war in Afghanistan is over amid reports of revenge killings and brutal tactics Afghanistan poised to become Islamic Emirate after Taliban sweeps to power ‘Positive trend’ in global efforts to reduce coal power – think tank report Police launch raids after ‘threats to kill officials over COVID measures’ in Germany Woman sentenced to death on blasphemy charges in Pakistan over WhatsApp messages