Last child sheltering from Russian bombs in a Ukraine basement draws monsters and misses his best friend

Kutuzivka, Ukraine — We walked from the bright sunshine down a flight of stairs into a dark, gloomy basement. It was filled with beds, and whatever personal belongings the people who fled to the building could grab when Russia started hammering their village with artillery.

Kutuzivka is only 15 miles from the Russian border, right in the path of the Russian tanks that rolled through on their way to Kharkiv — and then back again as they retreated. Many of the village's people fled before or during Russia's occupation, or left after the town was abandoned by the occupiers.

But while the Russian soldiers are gone, the bombardment hasn't stopped, so there are still people sheltering in the basement we visited. There used to be about 100 people there, including 40 kids, but we found only one child left.