Kyiv resident raced family to safety after Russian attack: 'Normal life is gone'
Former Ukraine First Deputy Minister of Economy Max Nefyadov describes the situation on the ground in the Ukraine capital on 'America Reports.'
A Ukrainian American woman who lives near Boston, Massachusetts, told Fox News Digital on Monday that she can no longer speak on the phone with her own mother, who lives in southern Ukraine, because of the Russian attacks on Ukraine and the fear these attacks have engendered.
Many people in southern Ukraine — as well as throughout the country — are right now living in fear for their lives as Russian soldiers overtake the area, the Boston-area woman said.
Babies are being born in the midst of war — "and some of the newborns are dying."
Some people have had their cellphones taken away by incoming soldiers as Russian forces take control of a town and several surrounding villages there, the woman reported.
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Also, the Boston-area woman said she’s become aware of the "humanitarian catastrophe" taking place in Nova Khohovka in Kherson Oblast, in southern Ukraine, right now.
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The Boston-area woman, whose first name is Katya, is sharing what she knows about the events in southern Ukraine with others in the U.S. because she wants more people to be aware of what is happening, she said.
People take shelter in a building basement while sirens sound, announcing new attacks in the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
She fears for her mother's life and for the lives of the other people she knows there.
"The town of Nova Kokhovka is surrounded [by Russian soldiers], and several other villages in that area are also occupied," the Boston-area woman told Fox News Digital on Monday morning.
"There has been no water, food or medical aid [for the Ukrainian people there] for two or three days," the same woman told Fox News Digital.
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Also, she said, babies are being born in the midst of war — "and some of the newborns are dying."
Several buildings in Starobilsk within the Luhansk Oblast region of Ukraine show significant damage because of shelling, according to images shared by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. (State Emergency Service of Ukraine)
The Boston-area woman of Ukrainian descent also told Fox News Digital that in southern Ukraine, "doctors and paramedics are being held captive in hospitals to treat wounded Russian soldiers. They are not permitted to treat local [Ukrainian] citizens."
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A Russia expert whom Fox News Digital consulted about the personal narrative as laid out here said that it "rings true" to her.
"When the Russians fight a war, they fight as a ‘whole of nation’ and they attack the adversary as a ‘whole of nation,’ as well," said Rebekah Koffler, author of "Putin's Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America" and a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer.
A destroyed armored vehicle is seen in front of a school which, according to local residents, was on fire after shelling, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Feb. 28, 2022. (REUTERS/Vitaliy Gnidyi)
"Unlike Americans," said Koffler, "the Russians do not take serious precautions to keep the civilian casualties low." Instead, she said, "they aim to achieve the mission, i.e. defeat the adversary."
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Koffler added, "It’s a different mentality. Having sacrificed 20 million people to fight [against] Nazi Germany [in WWII] and annihilated roughly the same amount during Stalin’s ‘red terror’ period, the Russians have a high tolerance for casualties. In fact, it is part of their strategy and war-fighting style ‘to out-suffer the adversary,’ and to inflict the level of suffering on the adversary that will compel him to abandon the fight."
The slaughtered family members — five people in all — are shown lying on a road outside their car.
She added, "Atrocities committed by Russian soldiers in the Chechen conflict are well documented, plus in Syria (the bombing of hospitals), etc."
‘Tried to leave’
The Boston-area woman, Katya, said a family "who tried to leave" one of the local villages in southern Ukraine "was killed," she told Fox News Digital on Monday.
Fox News Digital was shown graphic video of the bodies of the slaughtered family members — five people in all — lying on a road outside their destroyed car.
A girl looks at a notebook next to her mother as they stand in the Kyiv subway, using it as a bomb shelter, in Ukraine, on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Fox News Digital was also shown video of a dramatic car escape as a Ukrainian family desperately drove away from Russian soldiers who shot at their passing car along a highway.
The Boston-area woman told Fox News Digital that one of the people she knows in Ukraine "managed to hold onto her phone," though many other people there have had their phones taken away or no longer have internet service.
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The woman is "traumatized" by the violence her relatives are suffering, another Ukrainian American in the U.S. who knows her told Fox News Digital. This other woman is also fearful for the safety of Ukrainians right now as they endure the Russian attacks.
An armored personnel carrier burns and damaged light utility vehicles stand abandoned after fighting in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Sunday. The city authorities said that Ukrainian forces engaged in fighting with Russian troops that entered the country's second-largest city on Sunday. (AP)
John Wayne Troxell, former Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (retired), told Fox News Digital on Monday in a phone interview that the members of the Ukrainian armed forces that he knows are continuing to "stand and fight" against the Russian invaders.
In so doing, he said, "they are following the lead of their military leadership — they're going to stand and fight to the death for their country."
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It is "so admirable," he added, that these Ukrainians are standing strong for their country — "and not just those in the military, but the citizens."
A child holds a placard during a protest against Russia's attack on Ukraine in front of Shibuya station on Feb. 26, 2022 in Tokyo, Japan. (Yuichi Yamazaki/Getty Images)
He also said, however, that those he knows in Ukraine are aware they will have very tough nights ahead of them — including this week.
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"Every night is the most dangerous time," one of them told him in a text message. "Rocket and air shelling begins, sabotage groups are working. We are all fighting in our positions to defend Kviv."
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