We thought we had dream home in Ukraine…now we’re hiding in a cellar under the roar of Putin’s guns
A TRAPPED family spoke of their hell living in the blitzed corner of Ukraine snatched by Vladimir Putin.
They were among those watching with dread as more than 10,000 Russian troops with tanks and artillery surged into Donetsk and Luhansk.
The family smuggled messages out of the war zone to The Sun yesterday to tell of their terror, living with no power or water and having to cower in cellars.
And they blamed Putin for destroying their lives while raising the threat of World War Three.
Alexei, 38, said: “We thought we’d found our dream home but now it’s a living nightmare — having to hide in a neighbour’s basement when we hear the shelling.”
The family is without power after pro-Russian separatists running the rebel region of Donetsk were suspected of blitzing their own power stations in a so-called false flag operation to provoke war.
But they managed to send texts revealing their plight as Putin’s soldiers made camp nearby yesterday.
We have changed their names to conceal their true identities after they warned their lives would be in danger for daring to speak out.
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Mum-of-two Natalia, 36, and Alexei said they became trapped after starting work building their dream home in 2011 — three years before Putin’s separatists took over.
The family last night found itself surrounded by Russian troops on the wrong side of the 250-mile zone between opposing forces.
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They were shivering in a blacked-out, windowless corridor at their home, cowering from the sound of shellfire. Shop worker Natalia said: “We don’t have a basement so we have to sleep in the corridor where there are no windows at the back of the house.
“When the shelling gets heavy we run to our neighbour’s basement — though for the past few days I have hardly slept.
“We constantly hear loud shots coming from our side and our biggest fear is that an answer will arrive from the Ukrainians.
“The children have somehow learned to sleep through the noise — although they wake up sometimes — but I stay awake because I’m afraid for them. It’s so scary.
“During the day they shoot less and further away and it sounds more like machine guns. But at night it’s very loud — mostly from us. I am constantly afraid and dread that they will start shooting back.”
Describing day-to-day life under Russian separatist rule, coal miner Alexei said: “Much of Donetsk now has no electricity or water. Our house has its own well but we need electricity to pump it out.
“I figured out how to connect a car battery to a pump so that we sometimes have water and that’s how we are getting by.
“But we have now gone two days without electricity and can only stay in touch with the outside world by charging the phone in our car.”
‘IT’S SO SCARY’
At the weekend, Ukrainian officials accused pro-Russian rebels of attempting to cut off water supplies to 850,000 homes with a grenade attack on a pumping station.
The false flag attack was in a neutral zone where infrastructure is supposed to be left untouched.
Separatist fighters have since been accused of blacking out swathes of their own territory while blaming Ukrainian forces. They are also said to have based artillery guns close to family homes.
Meanwhile, stage-managed demonstrations of supporters waving Russian flags and shooting fireworks sprang up in Donetsk as Putin’s troops rolled in on Monday night.
But the Ukrainian family we found caught up in the unfolding tragedy were deeply suspicious of the so-called peacekeeping force sent in by war-hungry Putin yesterday.
Alexei, who does not support Russia or its pariah president, faces a dilemma after Donetsk’s rebel leaders called on men of fighting age to join their militia.
The family has shunned the offer of evacuation to Russia’s Rostov region as fighting intensifies.
Alexei said they preferred to stay and brave the coming storm, declaring: “Why would we go there. There is nothing for us there and we are Ukrainian, not Russian.”
Natalia fears for their mental health of her two daughters, aged 13 and eight, as they become disturbingly accustomed to life under fire.
The youngsters used to love pizza, burgers, western TV and Disney movies including their favourite, The Lion King. But they now spend tense hours in darkness being comforted by their traumatised parents as war erupts around them.
‘WE DON’T WANT A WAR’
Natalia told The Sun: “Everyone was given a chance to evacuate but the men are not allowed to go and I’m afraid that my husband will be taken away to serve.
“I don’t want him to leave and he doesn’t want to go because we do not want a war. This is not our war. We did not start it and we do not want to participate in it.
“We want to live like normal people. We have done nothing to deserve being used as human shields.”
The couple hoped the relative calm of the past two years meant the threat of all-out war had receded.
They see troops in uniform on the streets but are never sure whether they are separatists or Russians.
Natalie said: “But I do know that I’m afraid of them all. I’m very afraid this will turn into a big war.
“I have heard about the wounded and the dead but so far God has had mercy on us and we have not seen it with our own eyes yet. I can only pray that day will never come.”
