BBC News has the story of a Russian woman named Oleksandra who lives in the city of Kharkiv. She and her four rescue dogs have been huddling in terror in the bathroom of her flat since the constant shelling began days ago. She's been trying to tell her parents back home in Moscow what is happening, she's even sent them photos of what her city looks like now, but they refuse to believe her or what is in front of their eyes. They believe what they are told by state-controlled Russian television.
The 25-year-old has been speaking regularly to her mother, who lives in Moscow. But in these conversations, and even after sending videos from her heavily bombarded hometown, Oleksandra is unable to convince her mother about the danger she is in.
"I didn't want to scare my parents, but I started telling them directly that civilians and children are dying," she says.
"But even though they worry about me, they still say it probably happens only by accident, that the Russian army would never target civilians. That it's Ukrainians who're killing their own people."
It's common for Ukrainians to have family across the border in Russia. But for some, like Oleksandra, their Russian relatives have a contrasting understanding of the conflict. She believes it's down to the stories they are told by the tightly-controlled Russian media.
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Image: What Kharkiv actually looks like, screengrab from Guardian News video
