Ex-actor Ix Shen leaving Kyiv with wife as fighting intensifies
Former local actor Ix Shen, who has been living in Ukraine for the last four months, says he is evacuating Kyiv and moving to an area west of Ukraine's capital.
In the latest of his daily Instagram updates on Tuesday (March 8), 12 days after Russia invaded the country, the 50-year-old, who lives in the Podil district in Kyiv with his Ukrainian wife, said in a video posted on his Instagram that he has decided to move as fighting intensifies.
"We're safe and okay. Based on our latest information, we have decided it's not in our best interest to live extensively underground during the next phase of fighting.
"So we will be evacuating from Kyiv... And we're planning and moving as we go along."
"We'll be safe and okay."
In the video, he is seen in front of a parked car.
This comes a week after he said he had no plans to evacuate the country, and reassured his followers on Instagram that all was well with him and his family.
Mr Shen told The Straits Times last week that when the air raid siren is sounded or when shooting is heard, he and his wife and other residents would take shelter in the basement carpark at their Soviet-era nine-floor apartment building.
Other residents would hide out in the stairwells, he added.
More than 2 million people have fled Ukraine since war erupted on Feb 24.
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