'People are scared' - SA ambassador to Ukraine amid Russia invasion
South Africa's ambassador to Ukraine has described the
terror gripping the country, saying some residents have sought refuge in
basements and underground bunkers just to keep safe at night.
"I'm staying here with my family, we will probably sleep in the basement tonight just in case. We are expecting some attacks this weekend. It's very intense.
"We woke up last night about 3 o clock with a series of explosions in the area of Ukraine. It was not expected to be expected some action in eastern Ukraine but in this part of the country, there's been some series of military incidents in many big cities in Ukraine. So, this is serious."
Speaking to Newswatch from his home in Kyiv on Thursday night, Andre Groenewald said following Russia's invasion the situation changed dramatically in a matter of hours.
READ: Putin 'chose this war', says Biden as Ukraine crisis continues
"Kyiv is the 7th busiest traffic city in the world and I've never gone to the office this quickly. So it was open, there was nobody outside but there was almost a solemn feeling about the city. So, it's a very serious situation, people are scared.
"When I spoke to our translator from the embassy he said he lives just outside the city.
"He said to me that he went to a market this morning and that he was walking there and people were selling food and so on. I think it part of this whole thing just to if you can't have a normal life let's just force it to be normal because they are absolutely scared."
Listen below:
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a special military operation, saying he wanted to protect people against bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime.
But Ukraine says it's been in the throes of a full-scale invasion which has so far claimed the lives of 137 civilians and military personnel
