A woman has said she has dreams about her neighbours, who died in Russian shelling in Ukraine after saving her son.

Lena lived in an apartment building in Borodianka, which collapsed following repeated attacks.

It became famous after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recorded a video in front of it.

The people who lived there took shelter in the basement and survived the shelling.

However, as Russian soldiers did not allow any rescue attempt, they ultimately died there.

Lena (centre) speaks to Sean Moncrieff in front of her old apartment building in Kyiv, Ukraine with her interpreter (left). PIcture by: Newstalk

Humanitarian aid is now being handed out across the street from the apartment block.

Lena is still wearing the clothes she left her apartment in a year before.

She told Sean Moncrieff, who has spent the week in Kyiv, she left the building just two days before it was levelled.

"I was evacuated from that building two days before the rocket totally destroyed this building," she said through an interpreter.

"My brothers, who are living not so far away from here, they started to call me [and tell me] that please run away.

"I didn't want to be evacuated but they forced me, I said OK.

"In the night at 11pm, I grabbed some clothes and ran to... my brother, who is living near here.

"My son was staying in my flat, neighbours also stayed - later they were thinking it was a bad decision to stay."

'There is no house anymore'

Lena said she got a call from her neighbours in the middle of the night.

"I received a call at 2am, calls from my neighbours, they asked me: 'Where is your son? Our house is burning. Call him, tell him to run'".

Lena said her son made it to her brother's house, and they later heard three massive explosions.

"They knew how heavy the sound was from the plane that it would be something bad," she said.

"In the morning I told my son to go and grab money that I've hidden.

"The son called them at around 8am [saying] 'There is no house anymore'," Lena's interpreter translated.

'They stayed under the ruins'

She said her neighbours told her they were going to leave the building, but never made it.

"She feels very sad because neighbours who called to save her son, they died," Lena's interpreter explained.

"They were waiting for evacuation in the morning; at 7.30am there was a message from them that their house was damaged and they were going out.

"Maybe they were not able and they stayed there under the ruins".

Lena (centre) speaks to Sean Moncrieff outside her old apartment building in Kyiv, Ukraine with her interpreter (left). PIcture by: Newstalk

Lena said she now has dreams about the people who saved her son.

"I have dreams about them - for me, it's very hard to remember.

"They were a young lady, daughter and mother... it's a question of half an hour.

"They saved my son, but they didn't run themselves.

"It's very heavy for me also that we lost photographs and handmade [things], which we collected all our lives.

"My heart is not paining so much for the flat, than those pieces of memory which I cannot rebuild," she added.

For more on Sean’s week in Kyiv, go to newstalk.com/moncrieffinukraine

Main image: Lena (centre) speaks to Sean Moncrieff outside her old apartment building in Kyiv, Ukraine with her interpreter (left). PIcture by: Newstalk