Kharkiv and Chernihiv; or indeed in the artillery-battered fringes of the capital Kyiv.
A slight 13-year-old, Vova is dazed from painkillers and able to speak to me only out of the left side of his mouth. In other respects, he is very lucky to be alive. But what is left of that life?
Tomorrow they will bury his father Oleksandr, whose abandoned corpse Jamie and I have unwittingly passed in the street almost every day these past three weeks.
The details of Vova's family's particular tragedy are horrific. Certainly the picture of the gaping bullet wound in the boy's face, taken by doctors when he was first brought into Kyiv's Ohmatdyt hospital, is too graphic to reproduce here.
He was wounded on February 26. He and his father, 43, and mother Natalya were trying to flee Kyiv with Oleksandr's second cousin, his wife and their son and daughter.
A slight 13-year-old, Vova (pictured) is dazed from painkillers and able to speak to me only out of the left side of his mouth. In other respects, he is very lucky to be alive. But what is left of that life?
They were all crammed into an ancient blue Lada saloon when it was caught in a gun battle on Peremohy Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares. Russian reconnaissance forces were trying to push into the centre of the city at the time.
Someone – it is not clear on what side – opened fire on the Lada with an assault rifle. Everyone inside was hit.
Natalya was struck by 'ten or 11' bullets that passed through her without hitting vital organs. But her husband and the cousin's six-year-old son Maxym were killed instantly.
'The Ukrainian military pulled us out of the car,' recalls Natalya. 'They were shouting 'Stop shooting, stop shooting'. All the people in the car were brought here.'
Except her husband's body. Inexplicably, it was left inside the wreck by the roadside. The Lada was then covered in plastic sheeting, held in place by tape. His corpse remained there until discovered two days ago.
He will be buried this weekend in the Mikalev region. 'I won't be able to go to the funeral,' says Natalya. 'I will go to the morgue to say my goodbyes. He worked in a grocery. In September we would have been married for 15 years.'
Natalya (pictured with son Vova) was struck by 'ten or 11' bullets that passed through her without hitting vital organs. But her husband and the cousin's six-year-old son Maxym were killed instantly
Her son Vova was hit by five bullets; in his right cheek, his back and legs. Three of the rounds passed through his body. He has since undergone five operations.
'You could fit a small cup into the hole in his back,' says his mother. 'They had to cut out a piece of him there.'
How does he feel? 'Right now, good,' Vova says stoically. 'But when I try to stand my back hurts too much. I am not allowed to walk.' In fact, the doctors do not know yet if he will ever regain full use of his left foot.
He tells me he likes computer games and looking at his phone. A typical 13-year-old. He has even done a little homework in bed. But life won't ever return to 'normal'.
'We would like to go anywhere but here in Ukraine, right now,' his mother tells me.
Yesterday the Mail was given exclusive access to Ohmatdyt Children's Hospital, the largest in Ukraine. We were last here 12 days ago to witness the evacuation of around 200 young patients. The hospital had received collateral damage from nearby Russian airstrikes and doctors were worried that their logistical supply
