Terry Bass could see the horizon from his home on the beach in Odesa.
In the first days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Bass said he saw ships hiding in the distance and rockets coming from the water.
The ships fire into the city. Then, all of a sudden, Odesa starts to rumble.
Bass told Insider in a phone interview that when a rocket comes, you hear a sirens going off.
In his interview with Insider, Bass said that he cooked for Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines of the battle, and that he saw harrowing scenes in Odesa as Russian troops advanced their assault on the country. Bass said he wanted to describe the brutal assault on the country.
The city looks out onto the Black Sea on the southern coast of Ukraine, and was bombed by Russian forces. Russian ships were shooting from the sea and their bombs hit buildings and civilians, he said.
He said that they are not shooting at military targets.
Sometimes you hear five explosions, six explosions in a row, maybe two, three times a day.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a land, sea, and air assault against Ukraine last month, sending his troops into the country from several directions.
US President Joe Biden and other Western leaders have criticized Putin for violating international law. They have imposed harsh sanctions against Russia and supplied them with weapons.
Even as diplomatic talks continue between Ukraine and Russia, civilians are still reeling from the assault by Russia.
Bass and his friends took a ride through the city to see the damage after the attack from the ships. He said that the bombs took out the entire residential block. The people who lived in those homes were warned about the bombs and evacuated, but the damage has been done.
He said that people who have stayed in Odesa and been through the bombings are "stone-cold" and "just wish that the Russian forces would retreat from the city."
He said that if you just walk through the city right now, you feel like the city was destroyed during World War II.
Bass is from New York. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, he volunteered for a friend who owned a food delivery company. Volunteers deliver between 400 and 500 meals a day, mostly consisting of salads and starchy foods.
He said that the food operation plans to keep going as long as resources are available. Stores and restaurants in Odesa are running out of food because it is hard to find it.
Buckwheat, a staple food of Ukraine, is hard to find. Bass said he was told to toast his own buckwheat because the stores had run out of already-prepared buckwheat.
The markets are bare and the store shelves are empty.
He said there was no cash left and that it was difficult to buy ingredients from the market. Whatever we can get your hands on is what it is.
Bass family in America has urged him to leave as the invasion progresses. He left behind his friends and dog in the past few days. He is in a hotel. He would have liked to have stayed and helped.
He said that he felt guilty for leaving because he could still work. I left.
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