John Darvill, the York man trapped with his wife Yuliia and mother-in-law Olga near the besieged Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, has been keeping a daily diary since the Russians invaded a week ago. Here are a few extracts:

Wednesday, March 2: Last night was a nervous very quiet night. We are sat here thinking what our options are at the moment. Do we try get a train if there is one into the city and try and get on an evacuation train? Do we stay and try survive on the food we have left?We queued for two hours yesterday just for a loaf of bread. This is a stupid crazy war. There are Russian people living in this country also. People ask me what are the Ukrainian people like? They are the same as Yorkshire people that speak a different language. We all have a similar sense of humor. The same family values and friendly people.

Tuesday March 1: All the food in the shops has gone now. I am so proud of my wife and family how brave they are. Coping with it all. But I think we are all holding the emotions inside.

Monday February 28, 3.46pm: Dam (sic) they are in the field shooting. 100 yards away.

Monday February 28: A difficult night. We had some shelling quite close, made the house shake. Not much sleep.

Friday February 25: Starting to be a little nervous. Can hear bombs and shooting getting closer. Funny thing is all I can think about is having fish and chips with curry sauce.