‘My mother slept when missile struck her home'

A UKRAINIAN woman living in London today said her mother was lucky to be alive after a Russian missile destroyed their family home in besieged Mykolayiv.

- Daniel Keane

Tatiana Bland, 30, said Svetlana was inside when her apartment building was hit in the southern port city on March 7, sparking a devastating fire.

“My mum and my godmother were in the flat above where the missile hit and didn’t even know a fire had started. They were asleep and there were no sirens,” Ms Bland told the Standard from her home in Twickenham.

“The only reason she survived is because one of the neighbours called them to say ‘get out’.”