Hello, I'm Kani Sharpe. Welcome to BBC OS Conversations, helping Ukrainians.

As Ukraine retakes areas previously held by Russian forces, terrible accounts have been told

of what people endured under occupation. We've been sent messages with some of those stories.

Amid the horror, there is also the best of humanity. We meet a father and son reunited in the UK,

and we talk to volunteers helping refugees.

The whole life was broken and brought down to the very core of surviving through this.

And I think that for many people who are far away and who make decisions, this doesn't seem completely real.

With the Russian military gone, we've been piecing together a picture of what remains in towns

around the Ukrainian capital Kiev. I-witnesses tell of civilians being killed, tortured, and being used

as human shields. We're also seeing images of destroyed homes, dead bodies scattered on roads,

amid burnt out vehicles, and tanks. There has been much international condemnation and discussion

of war crimes. One of those towns is Borod Yankar. It's around 60 kilometres north-west of Kiev,

and in normal times has a population of around 13,000. Our BBC colleagues who have been there say

it's the worst destruction they have witnessed for a place of its size around the capital.

Ira lived in Borod Yankar with her family, but managed to escape to the west of Ukraine.

Olga lived through the first days of invasion with her two children, and they sent us these messages.

My children and I just prepared our cellar for a bomb shelter. It was very cold. We prepared

blankets and warm clothes. So we spent two days with the hope what everything would end soon.

But on the third day of the war, Russian troops had gone down in the city, and it was carried.

The military vehicles consisted of column of 200 or 300 vehicles. Let's

say tanks, APC and other vehicles. Their goal was to scare people, and they should any people who

resist them. It was terrible, but Borod Yankar fought back. We lived in our cellar. The

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