Ukrainians deal with survivor's guilt, heartbreak from Russia invasion

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Steve Harrigan on covering Ukraine war: 'This is a long-term tragedy'

Fox News correspondent Steve Harrigan joins 'America's Newsroom' after returning from Kyiv to discuss the mindset of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ukrainians who have been able to escape the death and destruction dealt by Russian forces are dealing with survivor’s guilt and heartbreak as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on the country rages on.

Anastasiia, a 22-year-old woman who spoke to Fox News Digital about her experiences surviving amid the Russia-Ukraine war in Irpin, expressed that she feels guilty for escaping Kyiv amid the attacks.

"I have this huge guilt that we left our home and I really feel like we should have stayed, but I know we couldn't have done much from there," Anastasiia said. "So at this point, I just, you know, I just felt very, I guess, controversial because it really doesn't feel right to be here because it's kind of cold here."

UKRAINIAN REFUGEES SEND MESSAGE TO PUTIN: ‘I HOPE HE DIES, PAINFULLY’

A photo of rubble in Irpin, Kyiv region of Ukraine. (Anastasiia)

"You can feel the war, but you can't actually see any combat," she continued. "And I just, I feel like all the people who are in eastern and central Ukraine right now, the things they're seeing, I don't think you can ever go back from that. So I just really feel a lot of guilt and hate and pain, all at the same time."

Anastasiia also spoke about the surrealness of hearing "explosions outside of [her] window" in Kyiv and escaping the city under attack to flee to Irpin.

The 22-year-old also said she and her boyfriend initially believed while escaping that "Russia is using some scare tactic" to pressure the Ukrainian government "into a more favorable negotiating position" for the Kremlin.

A photo of rubble in Irpin, Kyiv region of Ukraine. (Anastasiia)

The pair first tried traveling to Anastasiia’s parents’ house near Vinnystia, which she said would be known as a "hero city," but chose to flee to Irpin amid the atrocious bombings that rocked the airports.

Fox News Digital asked Anastasiia last week if she had a message to Putin.

"I hope he dies, painfully," Anastasiia said. "I really hope that he knows that the amount of hate and the amount of pain he’s caused, this will never be something he can get over."

A view of damaged cars near an apartment building hit by Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine on March 14, 2022. (Emin Sansar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

"This will never be something that he can’t go through just normally like he did with other countries he occupied, and he thought that he would be fine," Anastasiia continued. "Even if all the sanctions are gone, even if the international community did nothing for the rest of this war, the amount of hate and pain that’s going toward him right now, this will never go away."

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Anastasiia warned that Putin "should fear for the rest of his life, because any person from Ukraine, whoever has any contact with him, they will try to kill him, and he will die painfully."

"And I hope he knows that," she added.