UKRAINE RUSSIA CONFLICT 500 DAYS

Mikhail remembers when a rocket fell next to his bed on first day of war with Russia

epa10733938 A previously unused photograph shows local resident Mikhail standing next to a rocket that hit his flat in the Piatykhatky settlement of Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, 24 February 2022 (issued 08 July 2023).Twenty six years old Mikhail, narrowly escaped death when one of the first rockets of the war with Russia on 24 February 2022, fell very close to where he slept, in the flat his mother and him were sharing. The rocket, described by emergency services as a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket BM-21 Grad system had entered the flat through the ceiling; its front part ended up awkwardly buried in a hole right next to his bed. He realized only later how lucky he was that morning that the rocket had not exploded on impact. Emergency services came to retrieve the rocket but Mikahil and his mother, who moved to his grandmother's flat not far from their old one meanwhile, are still waiting to receive help to repair their damaged home as promised by local authorities. Before the war, the young man had been a student of the National Automobile Highway University, and now works at an auto service. His salary is enough to support himself and family but not enough to repair his old flat, he received 600 euros of the promised help but the rest has not materialized yet.The war in Ukraine which started when Russian troops entered Ukraine in February 2022, marks on 08 July its 500th day. According to the UN more than 9000 civilians have been killed since the war started. EPA/SERGEY KOZLOV

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