Every day for the past five days, a young woman stood by the dusty ruins of a tower, waiting for news of her mother, aunt, and cousin.
A Russian air strike on the building cut it in half a month ago, wiping out the country where Anna Matvienko’s family is staying.
She spoke on the phone with Valentina, her mother, just 12 minutes earlier, discussing plans to escape.
Describing their last conversation, she said: “We sent them a route from Borodyanka to Kyiv, how they can escape. Many bridges and roads were broken, so we sent them a map … and she said we were thinking about how to escape.”
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Image: Anna says a body was found with her mother’s ID next to it – but it’s not her
Anna, 32, said she had heard nothing from the exchange.
Russian troops controlled the town of Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv, when the missile struck.
That meant it was impossible for her to reach the ruins of her home in the capital until the Russians finally pulled out last week.
Anna dared to return for the first time with her husband on April 4, desperately searching for news about her mother.
Rescuers began digging the wreckage two days later. This is one of the five sites where bodies are being dug up after Russian rockets smashed the city.
Image: Locals eat near their homes destroyed by Russian shelling
The scene appears to be the result of a huge earthquake, with apartment buildings collapsed and those left blackened by fire, windows broken and guts gutted.
Dressed in a bright pink coat, Anna stood by a pile of broken, gray concrete that outlined a deep pit dug into the ground, waiting for news.
“We will also come tomorrow,” she told Sky News on Friday.
“It’s difficult because we don’t know exactly – whether they’re alive or not. We can’t find them anywhere.”
She described the agony of her waiting. “Of course it’s hard,” Anna said, her voice trembling and her eyes watering with tears.
“March was very difficult. Especially in the evenings, because then I was talking to my mother and now I can’t call her. It’s not easy if you can’t talk to her.”
Image: The scene in Borodyanka looks like the consequences of a strong earthquake
She said the body of a woman was found among the remains, and next to it lay her mother’s ID card.
To her horror, she learned of the discovery in a Facebook post, but when she looked at the photo, she realized it wasn’t Valentina, even though she said it might be her aunt.
Authorities said they took the body, but she was unable to find it.
“The body was there,” Anna said, pointing to a patch of dirt strewn with debris, such as shoes and computer keyboards taken from people’s homes and covering the ground.
There was a badly damaged black car on a short walk from the rubble.
It belonged to her cousin Kiril and would be used in the escape plan. Instead, he stood motionless, the windows shattered by the blast.
Anna realizes that if her mother, aunt and cousin were in their ground floor apartment, she has little chance of surviving.
But she hopes they may have escaped the blast and may have been forced by Russian troops to cross the border into neighboring Belarus and Russia.
Image: A firefighter examines a photo album found among the remains of a building
Anna said she was told that some residents had had their phones and passports confiscated and forcibly taken away.
She asked if she could pass on a message to her family if it happened to them.
Speaking directly to the camera, Anna said: “Mom, aunt and Cyril, if you listen to my message is that we are looking for you and we will definitely find you.
“It doesn’t matter where you are in Belarus or Russia, we will find you. I love you.”
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