A talented violinist played for terrified locals hiding in an air raid shelter as Russian bombs battered Ukraine.

The young musician named Vera Lytovchenko gave a moment of reprieve for residents as she performed in a dingy basement in Ukraine's Kharkiv Oblast.

She said: 'It was very difficult to play and think about something that wasn’t war. But I decided I must do something.

‘We have become a family in this cellar and when I played, they cried. They forget about the war for some moments and think about something else.'

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine’s Donbas region late February. He said in a public address on February 24: ‘We decided to launch a special military action aimed at demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine.’

The Office of the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights said it had tallied at least 1,335 civilian casualties in Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion, while data from the UN Refugee Agency said more than 2 million refugees have fled Ukraine.