For much of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Daria was not afraid of the shelling.
Even on nights of heavy bombardment, the 27-year-old could sleep through the explosions in her apartment in Kyiv. Like many Ukrainians, she relied on the “two-wall rule”: staying safe by keeping two walls between herself and the outside world.
But this year that has changed.
In recent months, Russia has scaled up the intensity and frequency of its attacks against the Ukrainian capital.
In the first 10 days of July alone, the Russians launched dozens of ballistic missiles in three major attacks, killing nearly 60 civilians, according to official figures. Similar large scale attacks took place in August and September.
A BBC Verify analysis of government figures found Kyiv is now suffering more daily air raid alerts than at any time since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
It was during an attack one night in May that Daria realised she no longer felt safe in her home.
She and her boyfriend were in the corridor of their ninth-floor apartment, watching a boxing match, as explosions went off around them, the blast waves causing the windows to repeatedly slam open and shut.
When the fight ended, “there was no longer anything to distract me,” Daria says. “That’s when I realised I was really scared.”
At first, she thought she would start using a nearby bomb shelter during attacks.
But in June, when a young mother was killed running to a shelter in Kyiv, Daria decided she needed to leave the city altogether.
She returned to her family’s country house, 30km (18.6 miles) away in Romankiv, and now spends a total of four hours a day commuting to and from Kyiv, where she works in the defence sector.
