A Ukrainian violinist has become an internet sensation after videos of her playing as bombs rained down on Kharkiv were shared online.
Vera Lytochenko, 39, has become known as the “cellar violinist” after she was filmed playing in a basement in the war-torn Ukrainian city.
Ms Lytochenko, a music teacher who previously played for the city’s opera orchestra, began to play for 11 other residents to ease their fears as they waited out air-raids in the bomb-shelter.
“I was trying to make them think about something else and not about the war for some minutes while I’m playing,” she told the Associated Press.
“My friends are in different cities all over Ukraine and I’m trying to keep a connection with them, I text them several times a day to know if they’re alive.
“Many people text me now saying that my videos give them such support and hope.
“They can see that someone stays here in Kharkiv. Someone is alive and someone keeps hope and is optimistic.”
Ms Lytochenko, sought refuge underground with her professor father and neighbours two weeks ago as Russian troops began their attack on Kharkiv.
A week into their refuge, the violinist began her recitals, which have since been viewed 83,000 times on YouTube, in order to keep spirits high as missiles destroyed the city.
“Bombs can fall everywhere in our city, so we decided to go down in the cellar,” she said during a Skype interview.
“We’re about 12 people now. We have little boys. We have teenagers. We have old women.
“All these people are my brothers and sisters now.”
On Wednesday, the talented musician finally left the underground bunker after a ceasefire was declared in the city, and was able to return to her flat for a few hours.
Despite being able to see sunlight for the first time in two weeks, Ms Lytochenko admitted her concern for what life may be like after the war.
She said: “We had a cultural life in our country, our cities, in spite of the coronavirus.
“We were vaccinated. It was a normal life but now we can’t understand what is happening.”
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According to the Ukraine’s State Emergency Services, four people were reportedly killed following an attack on a residential building in Kharkiv overnight, two of them were children .
Russian missiles also destroyed a maternity hospital in Mariupol with Ukraine officials claiming three people were killed, including a six-year-old child.
