Ukraine War Diaries: EP17 - Distant thunder, air raids & the therapy of tears (July 25-29)

Despite being thousands of kilometres from Kyiv, war with Russia continues for the refugees who Oksana meets in Brussels.In Kyiv, recording in the middle of an air raid alert, Ilyas offers yet more insight into the war through the eyes of his grandmother — a survivor of World War II.And in Poland, Ilyas’ wife Natalia goes to therapy.BACKGROUNDOksana, 34, works in overseas education. She lives with her husband, Seva, in an apartment complex in central Kyiv and has remained in the Ukrainian capital since the war started. Many of Oksana’s closest friends have left the country to begin new lives in Europe. Some may never return. She’s determined to stay. Ilyas is an IT specialist and married father who fled from Kyiv to Lviv shortly after the war started. His wife Natalia, and two young sons are taking refuge in Poland.Ilyas is now back living in the family apartment in Kyiv and working, in part, for the Ukrainian government on various projects. Natalia is the wife of Ilyas. She fled to Poland with her two young sons then aged 4 and 1, at the beginning of the war. Her mother followed soon after.Ukraine War Diaries uses first-person audio, recorded on the ground in Ukraine, to give an intimate day-to-day perspective of life in a war zone.Week 17 diary entries were recorded using WhatsApp voice note. From the producers of Sky News’ multi-award winning series – StoryCast. Producer Rob MulhernEditing Paul Stanworth