A Ukrainian-born academic, who has lived in Kenilworth for nearly a decade, has said she cannot eat or sleep because she is so worried about the ongoing conflict in her home country.

Russia invaded Ukraine last Thursday and has launched a number of attacks in Kharkiv and the capital city Kyiv.

Kenilworth resident and assistant professor at University of Warwick, Oksana Trushkevych, said how hard it has been to watch the events unfold from afar.

"For myself and for my husband it has been really difficult," she said.

"I can't eat and I can't sleep because I am so worried."

Mother of three, Oksana moved to the UK in 2001 to study for her PhD at Cambridge University on a Gates Cambridge Scholarship.

She and her husband, Oleg Pikhurko, a Mathematics professor at University of Warwick, then moved to Kenilworth in 2013.

Since Russia launched its attacks last week, they have been in daily contact with friends and family still in Ukraine.

"My friends and family in Kyiv are sleeping in bomb shelters" she said.

"My grandmother in Lviv, who is 87, is saying things like 'I need to go to bed dressed' in case there is a siren and she has to leave in the middle of the night."

And Oksana said the feeling of people in Ukraine had gone beyond worry.

"I don't think it is the case for them to be worried anymore. It is already so extreme that the feeling is just anger," she added.

"One of my friends in Lviv is preparing to protect the city, and to provide basic needs for those arriving. But he is feeling guilty that he is not in the hottest spots.

"And this is how we all feel; we feel guilty for being safe."

Oksana, who comes from Lviv in Western Ukraine, said she was awaiting a response from local MP Jeremy Wright but joined the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB) in meeting with MP for Coventry North West Taiwo Owatemi.

"She listened, she was supportive and was very passionate. We told her that the UK needs to act now because people are dying."

Many organisations, including AUGB, are collecting donations for refugees.

And Oksana said she feels humbled by the flood of support and offers of help from neighbours, friends and colleagues, including many Russians.

"People are really willing to help, it is incredible.

"If someone wants to donate, fantastic.

"If somebody wants to send messages of support, amazing. Every small kind gesture helps; Coventry Cathedral being bathed in blue and yellow light helps. The university making a powerful statement helps.

"It does keep the morale up and it does make a difference. Even just kind words make a huge difference to us and to all Ukrainian people – I think that support is part of the reason that Ukraine is still standing."

And with the first set of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine ending without resolution, Oksana said she had little confidence that an end to the conflict was in sight.

"Personally I have zero optimism about the talks," she added.

"I don't think Putin will yield, I don't think he is normal mentally.

"Now he has already started the war it will be much harder for him to go back, so I don't have a lot of faith in those talks being productive.

"But I do have huge faith in people of Ukraine and in people of the world and in truth winning at the end."