As bombs rain down, Gittoes fears for safety in Ukraine

But still he persists with his artistic endeavours.

It was a huge night-time explosion which rocked the Werri Beach artist deeply this week - along with the apartment block he's calling home in Odessa.

"We are in a 300-year-old residence - not a hotel but part of the old city with a courtyard and carriage way," Gittoes explained.

"Our neighbour is, also, named George and is soft spoken and very witty IT specialist who works from home.

His wife loves art, and they have two young teenage daughters and dogs. One dog is very old and was shaking from the sound of the bombs. He is a Jack Russell like our dog, Snug."

There maybe a curfew imposed but after the blast people, previously hunkered in basements, emerged into the night.

"George checked an app on his phone and discovered that an oil depot had been hit and that is why the explosion was so massive.

"We could all smell the burning chemicals in the air but not see the fire," Gittoes explained.

When the Werri Beach couple moved to Odessa from Kyiv, Gittoes asked his namesake if he thought the Russians would destroy the city as it had Mariupol.

He answered: "No, there are too many old buildings that are too important to Putin. After St Petersburg this was the capital before Moscow, he would never destroy Odessa."

After the bombing, George said: "The unthinkable is happening, the war is on our doorsteps."

For the first time since arriving in Ukraine, Gittoes and his wife Hellen Rose feel deeply unnerved.

READ MORE:

"The courage of the people here is astonishing, but the overwhelming firepower of the Russian military is undeniable.

"Yesterday afternoon I had been outside on our balcony, drawing when I heard the low swoosh of a missile. I looked up and saw it disintegrate, taken out by and 'anti-missile missile'.

"I was amazed that something so sleek and small and moving so fast could be successfully targeted. That was very reassuring, but tonight's bomb blast is the opposite.

On May 9, Gittoes watched Putin deliver his speech for the celebration of the victory over the Germans in World War II.

"The vast army parade in Moscow resembled the massive armies of Orcs created digitally by Peter Jackson's special effects teams for Lord of the Rings.

"Everyone in Ukraine, with a TV, would have been watching this vast army with its weapons, proudly standing at attention, and seeming invincible, while Putin declared that the new war in Ukraine was to protect their beloved motherland against foreign invaders."