The city of Sumy in northern Ukraine lies at the heart of a rural region close to Russia and Belarus. Many people have fled there from villages along the border, in order to escape the bombing. CGTN correspondent iolo ap Dafydd reports from Sumy.
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00:00Newly arrived and feeling dazed. It's the second time they've escaped and left their home in two years.
00:08We ran from a shelter to our house and then back again. We ran several times when we could.
00:17We hid in the house, under the table, as close as possible to our baby. We lost our passports.
00:26They're too afraid to give their names in case they're identified, because they live near the Russian border.
00:32Apart from one bag of clothing, they have nothing else.
00:36Every day this territory is under shelling and the number of people who were affected by the war increase every next day, unfortunately.
00:48And also Sumy city is under shelling too, and people wounded, injured and unfortunately dying.
00:55Lyudmila is an administrator for a group of five villages. She also fled her home to avoid artillery fire and helps at the evacuation center.
01:05People left on their own to save their lives. They left to find somewhere safe to live.
01:12First large families with children, and of course we asked these families to leave the area, because it was extremely dangerous.
01:22Only a few towns and villages near the border are still populated, deserted as they can be shelled during most days.
01:30There is an exclusion zone regulated by military checkpoints on most roads.
01:36Hundreds of people have left these kind of villages along the northern border of Ukraine and Russia.
01:42Most people have left, but yet many remain, despite the danger of occasional shelling and the Russians not being too far away.
01:50But they say they can't leave, because they don't want to leave their homes.
01:54Most residents stay indoors to avoid being seen by Russian drones, but others carry on.
02:02Yes, they are bombing us every day, he says. Being so near to the border, the Russians give us a hard time.
02:10For more than a month, local charities and the Red Cross have evacuated thousands of people from hundreds of kilometers of northern Ukraine.
02:19Each person, each family has to be helped with accommodation, clothing and food.
02:26YOLO Avdavit, CGTN, Sumy, northern Ukraine.