Kiev: What Life  is Like in Ukraine

The air-raid alarm went off at 3:11 a.m. but offered little warning. Within three minutes, the missiles started to hit, almost 10 teeth-rattling booms that jolted Nikita Horskyi and Alona Horska awake.

The couple launched into what has become a familiar ritual in recent weeks. Mr. Horskyi scooped up their two children. Ms. Horska assembled makeshift beds in the hallway. Their 16-story apartment building has no shelter, and they knew that two walls offered more protection than the exterior wall alone.

Mark, their 10-year-old, thought, “God, help us,” as he said he does after every explosion. He hugged his stuffed goose and curled up in the hallway on a thin mat and a pillow resembling a smiling green monster. Arina, 5, lay down on a blowup bed with sheets of pastel bunnies and hedgehogs.

The family fell back asleep, accustomed to this particular nightmare, until the next missiles hit, two of them nearby, including one that killed a pair of security guards. Mark woke to the sound of glass shattering outside. He fell asleep for a bit longer, then he and his sister got up for school. Soon the jet-powered drones would arrive.

One Earth One Chance 

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