A Ukrainian-Russian, who has fled her home in Kyiv, has hit out against the Russian invasion of her country.
"I don’t need Russia to save me," the university professor said.
Speaking to RTÉ's Morning Ireland, the woman, who has relocated to western Ukraine, said the invasion makes her angry.
"Natively I am Russian speaking. My father is from Moscow. I have lived all my life in Ukraine. I feel Ukrainian and I don’t need Russia to save me," she said.
"There is no reason to save Russian people in Ukraine - it is crazy," she added.
The woman said she is angry and feels " a lot of pain" for women and children taking refuge underground in Kyiv because of Russian attacks.
Her husband, who is also a university professor, said he and his wife left the capital last weekend because of concerns over gunfire and shelling.
"Every night we were surrounded by the sound of fighting. It was coming closer and closer to our place and we decided it is time to evacuate.
"We were staying near the airport - a military airport - and the shooting from the very beginning was quite dangerous. There were some mistakes in targeting.
"Every day the shooting was louder and louder. Finally one of the missiles burnt near our house. It was a deep hole in the land and there was nothing left of people staying there - just a deep hole. We decided that’s enough," he said.
Another man, a teacher who escaped Mariupol, said he has not had contact from his mother for six days.
His mother remains in Mariupol - a besieged city in Ukraine’s southeast and the second largest city in the Donetsk region. Mariupol is under siege amid heavy Russian shelling.
"I had to flee on the second day of the war. Many of my colleagues, my mother and my friends … it was just impossible for them to relocate safety.
"The city has been besieged. The Russian army heavily shell residential areas. They shell the city indiscriminately.
"As for my colleagues and my mother. I haven’t been in touch for six days now. People in Mariupol - they’ve just become victims," he said.
On not being able to contact his mother, he added: "In the first days I cried three times. For now I just don’t have tears and any emotions to cry".
He said he takes sleeping pills to fall asleep at night and distracts himself during the day by undertaking tasks and volunteer work for the local territorial defence forces.
Another man who spoke to Morning Ireland explained he returned to Ukraine with his wife after fleeing Kyiv to Berlin last week. He now runs a messaging service to evacuate people stranded in battle hotspots.
"I’m coordinating people who need support in evacuation. I am in touch with civilians who take their own cars and are now driving through the country picking up people who are escaping the Russian army.
"I am a connecting point between people who are driving people out and people who are looking for somebody to drive them out," he said.
