With the ongoing bombardment from  Vladimir Putin’s troops, nearly 30 women have given birth in the basement of a hospital in one city.

As bombs fall on their homeland, their infants are born, and sometimes shells fall around the hospitals.

Anastasia Hlazenko, 24, is one of them, having been forced to prepare for the birth of her first child by hiding in a basement as Russian forces bombed her city.

She spoke for new mothers across Ukraine yesterday when she said: “Having a baby in wartime is terrifying.

“But it is also a time of joy because it shows that even in the darkest times for Ukraine, life goes on.”

Another mother, Aleina, was seen in the basement of a hospital in the besieged port city of Mykolaiv, clutching her infant Snizhana as air raid sirens screamed outside.

Meanwhile, Anastasia, a bank employee, described her horrific escape from the front lines while carrying her infant Polina.

Andriy, a 29-year-old landscape gardener, and the bank worker lived in the south-eastern city of Izyum.

Days before Anastasia’s due date, war broke out.

She said: “We hid in our corridor away from the windows at first but it got worse so we went to the shelter. We stayed there constantly while the bombing was getting closer and closer.

“We only rushed upstairs to get food and water and one time I went into the bedroom and saw a bullet had smashed through the window and had gone into our wardrobe.

“It made me realise how close the war was to our home. I was getting really scared both for our safety but also for my baby.

“I really didn’t want to give birth in the shelter but I didn’t know what I would do.

“And the constant shooting and bombing just made everything worse.”

Fortunately, there was a small respite from the battle, and Andriy assisted her to their car, where they hurried her to the hospital.

Polina was born by emergency cesarean on March 1st, weighing a healthy 7lb 8oz.

Anastasia relished being a new mother for a few blissful hours. But it wasn’t meant to be.

She said: “Early the next day we had to go to the shelter under the hospital because the shelling was getting closer.

“It was a tiny room and there were about ten other women there. It was freezing because all of the windows had been shot out and there were only mattresses on the floor.

“We were down there for two days. It was an awful way to spend the first few days with your baby but I just wanted to keep her safe and warm.

“The fighting was really close, the hospital was under attack but I was just concentrating on Polina.”

After several days it became so dangerous they went to her mother’s home.

Anastasia said: “A neighbor then told us that some buses were leaving the city.

“We managed to get seats for us three and my mother and grandmother. It was a miracle but we still weren’t safe.

“As we were driving away they started firing on us.

“It was terrifying. Everyone was screaming and crying. We were on the floor trying to shelter from the bullets.

“I was clutching Polina so tightly. I was going to protect her with everything I had.”

Amazingly, no one on the bus was hurt and, after taking two buses and a train, they finally made it to the relative safety of Lviv in the west of Ukraine.

Anastasia now has no idea what the future holds.

She said: “To give birth in a war is awful. But it is a joy for any woman to have a daughter.

“I will do everything I can to keep her safe and I am confident we will win this war and her life will get back to normal.

“We just don’t know when that will be.”