Report from Kyiv: ‘We never really believed it would happen like this and come from all directions’

Oleksandr Proshuta, a basketball journalist and commentator in Kyiv, shares a first-person account of life in the besieged capital since Wednesday

Oleksandr Proshuta: ‘Kyiv is under duress. The Russians really want the capital. Putin thinks Kyiv is the holy grail of this war, that they should invade the city and dismiss the president’

Nothing is happening at the moment, but it can happen any second.

I was travelling from my native city, Zaporizhzhya, to Kyiv, where I live, last Wednesday. I had been on a break before returning to work. I am a basketball journalist and commentator and I was due to commentate on the return of the NBA season.

An old friend of mine, who is now serving in the army as a media officer, called me ...