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A Guernseyman in Odessa has explained to Express how for five weeks, the city of Odessa, a strategically important naval port in the south-west of Ukraine, braced itself for attack.
Russian air forces were bombarding Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, 270 miles to the north. Russian troops were further east and north, besieging Mariupol and Bucha, European cities with names, like Srebrenica, now tragically and indelibly associated with wartime massacre and genocide.
There had been isolated reports of Ukrainian defence forces shooting down a small number of cruise missiles over the wider Odessa region.
But this week, Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, launched his first serious attacks on the city, sending in 50 cruise missiles on one morning.
Guernseyman Colin Wood, who lives in Odessa with his Ukrainian wife, told Express how they witnessed multiple explosions less than a mile from their home.
Pictured: Guernseyman Colin Wood has been living in Odessa with his wife since last year.
"There was a big attack, starting at 05:56 in the morning - 10 massive explosions about a kilometre away from us. It was an attack on some oil storage tanks," said Mr Wood.
"All our windows rattled, the contents of our cupboards were moving around and clashing together.
"I went to the balcony after the first explosion, which woke everyone in all the buildings around us.
"Olga [Mr Wood's wife] started immediately searching information websites to try and discover what was happening.
"Every siren in the city was going off. After the first explosion, there were another nine explosions in the next 14 minutes.
"The street had loads of people running to the air raid shelters, while others gathered outside where, I guess, they felt safer."
Pictured: Russia's President, Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine has become grimly all too familiar with the determination of Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, to take regions in the east of Ukraine and force the rest of the country to renounce any ambitions to join the European Union or NATO - and the devastation he is prepared to cause to realise those ambitions.
But Mr Wood said that the mood among Ukrainians has been changed again and unsurprisingly hardened by the massacre of hundreds of civilians by Russian forces in Bucha, 15 miles west of Kyiv, as they retreated, essentially defeated, from the capital.
"Everyone I speak to has been shocked beyond comprehension by what has been discovered in Bucha," said Mr Wood.
"My heart breaks when I read the stories and see the photos and video of Bucha.
"[Ukraine's] President, [Volydymyr] Zelensky, went there...and we watched Ukrainian TV news...[his] face was a reflection of the feelings of every person in this country now."
Pictured: Guernseyman Colin Wood said the devastation and atrocities caused by Russian forces in Bucha have shocked Ukrainians and further changed the public mood.
"There is now a hatred in this country for all Russians and this is going to be a multi-generational hatred that will not diminish with time," continued Mr Wood.
"People living here in Odessa, with family in Russia, have told me that these Russia-based family members do not believe the facts and have therefore been totally ostracised. I doubt they will ever be in contact again.
"The people of Ukraine have been driven together in a way that Putin would never have expected.
"What has happened is diametrically opposite to what he seems to have believed would happen."
Pictured: Ukraine's President, Volydymyr Zelensky.
Mr and Mrs Wood run a shop in Odessa, which remains open, but he said "customers are becoming fewer and fewer and they spend very little".
"We do not cover our electric at the shop and apartment any more.
"Everything else has to be paid from our rapidly diminishing savings. It is a very tough time for everyone, with almost no work.
"We pray it will end soon and the rebuilding can commence. It will take years.
"This country is resilient and will bounce back, but it will never be the same."
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