Russian forces launched 33 rockets at civilian targets in the Ukrainian city of Kherson during the last day, the Ukrainian army announced today (Wednesday). This, at the same time as the increased Russian deployment of tanks and armored vehicles on the front line, which led to the intensification of fighting.

Due to the multiple shelling that shakes the city, more and more residents decided to leave Kherson to protect themselves and their families. The BBC presents the heartbreaking story of one of these families, the Slivanova family.

13-year-old Nika Slivanova made a heart shape with both hands, and waved goodbye to her best friend Ina who was pressed against the glass partition that separated the entrance hall of the Kherson train station from the waiting area.

Moments before, they were hugging and tears were flowing from their eyes. Ina kissed Asia, a tan dachshund wrapped in a warm blanket, carried by Nika in her arms. The girls didn’t know when they might see each other again.

Nika’s family left Harson, not sure where they would end up. For now they turned to the city of Khmelnytskyi in the west, hoping to receive help there.

The last days in Kherson were simply too much for Nika’s mother, Elena: “In the past, they [הכוחות הרוסיים] We were shelled seven to 10 times a day, now it’s 70-80 times, all day. It’s too scary.” said Elena. “I love Ukraine and my dear city. But we have to go.”

Irina Antonenko cried when we approached her car to talk to her: “We can’t take it anymore. The shelling is so intense. We stayed all this time thinking it would pass and we’d be lucky. But the bomb hit the house next to us, and my father’s house was also bombed,” she said through tears.

Elena and her three daughters are among more than 400 people who have left Kherson since Christmas, after a sharp increase in the intensity of the bombing of the city by the Russian army. Hundreds of people leave on their own, a queue of cars accumulates at the checkpoint leaving Harson, full of terrified citizens. And while the city is filled with the sounds of shelling, it is emptied of residents.