Lydia waves her hands in the shape of a cross. bombing sound surrounds his home, and his appearance is a mixture of surrender, anger, and fear. “We’ve been here for weeks, we don’t have water, food, or electricity, and this is where we live under bombardment,” he says as he walks through a door that leads to a narrow, sloping staircase. an astonishing incline. especially hard to beat for people like old couple Living in a small part of town, in a house now partially bombed Severodoneskover Luhansk region, Donbas in eastern Ukraine. It is a local NGO that delivers food to the area and with its help we visit shelters and homes of people who have decided not to leave them.
Population of the region donbas lives immersed in war since then pro-Russian separatists In 2014 they tried to seize the entire territory in eastern Ukraine. At that time, the uprising did not work and led to a chronic conflict. Now, with Putin’s invasion, the region is one of the hottest targets of the armed conflict.
” rocket still on the grass. He didn’t have a bullet, but a few small bombs.” Many small bullets flew all over the courtyard of the housing estate and exploded on impact. “It was just yesterday,” says Svetlana, who got some fresh air at the mall. A few minutes away from her shelter. Nervous. he somehow looks at the sky over and over again.
hospital bombed
“We haven’t had peace since the Russians bombed the hospital,” said another woman, who asked not to be named. Point to campus district hospital in your hometown lyman, across the street. The building caught fire as a result of artillery fire last Friday. The hospital had been evacuated just two days ago, otherwise numerous deaths and injuries could have occurred.
Lyman It is a quiet little town with only a few. 20,000 population north donbas. In Play ground with pine forests and lakes known as ukraine switzerland. Today, this small town is on the front lines. Drums and loud explosions can be heard continuously. This Russian Army It slowly advances about a kilometer each day and is now three kilometers away.
“Our flat is on the seventh floor,” he says. Svetlana, who adds: “But now we live in the basement”. This 45-year-old woman now lives with her family in two small rooms. A table and an anteroom with a two-burner stove serve as a kitchen. A low, narrow door leads to the bedroom, which has a chaise longue and a mattress on the concrete floor.
The family hid their most prized possessions among plastic plates, pans, preserves and eggs piled on the shelves. They have bags packed in the middle. “Always ready to go”, Svetlana’s husband Eugen tells us. “We will not stay here if the Russians invade. Everyone knows the terrible things they did in Russia. Bucha‘, he concludes.
scorched earth policy
A few kilometers before the ascent smoke columns stretching towards the horizon in the intense green of this region. In the background, one can see 17th century monasteryIt has a picturesque location on the white cliffs of the coast. Sever Donets River It has golden roofs and various damage to its facade due to bombing. Many Ukrainians used to come here on vacation. The Russian Army has been attacking the small town of just 4,000 for three weeks. By the way, he approached two kilometers from the ground. Ukrainian commander Vladimir tells us: “We are on the first line of defense.”
Soldiers are only seen in a few vehicles on the road and drive at full speed to avoid being potential targets of constant shelling. They park their cars on the walls of houses and under trees. “The Russians have advanced five kilometers this week,” explains Commander Vladimir, outside the city centre. “They’re just advancing because they’re bombing whole villages.” policy. scorched earth that Russian troops currently use in Ukraine. But when everything is completely destroyed, they decide to move forward. Russian army learned from mistakes, strategy in Kiev lightning war In February they wanted to take the capital of Ukraine in a few days and failed – the lightning war. With columns of large-caliber tanks and bombsalmost nothing can be done. they no longer trust gunner and rocket fire. The Ukrainian Army cannot resist in the long run. If you don’t want to lose all your men in untenable positions, you must back off.
“Please don’t ask how it is, but we’re checking the sky,” said Vladimir proudly, straightening his hat. This makes a significant difference, but without heavy weapons it will not work, the commander adds: “But we still urgently need heavy weapons.” denotes weapons. Range up to 60 kilometers with radar systems that detect the ballistic trajectory of projectiles and allow them to position and eliminate the artillery of the Russian Army. “We’re fighting a trench war here, almost like in the First World War,” says Vladimir. “If the heavy weapons we need come in, we can stop the Russians,” he said.
“I understand the Russians”
The starting point of the Russian attacks, lyjum, 20 kilometers north. A small town captured by the Russian Army last month and axis from him Deployment in Donbas. New troops arrive every day, the feared ones Battalion Tactical Groups (BTG) It combines troops of 600 to 800 people and infantry, air defense and armored units. According to US intelligence, at least 76 of these battalions are currently stationed in the Donbas.
You can see a result in this city the last rocket. The roof has completely collapsed. Fortunately, the residents fled weeks ago. Ivan lives next door, cleaning the broken glass from his window: “I understand very well the Russians, they have to do what they do, because the Ukrainians have been bombing the Luhansk and Donesk People’s Republics for eight years,” he says. old man. repeat without stopping Russian state media propaganda, like most Russian-speaking residents of the region. “Even if the missile had killed me, I would have been fine,” he says in all seriousness. He is from Russia. His son lives in Moscow and his daughter in Donetsk, which is occupied by pro-Russian separatists. “Of course I only follow Russian media,” he says. “They show the truth,” he says. He does not have to fear any negative consequences. “I don’t have the slightest problem saying what I think,” he insists again and says goodbye.
Vladimir, ukrainian army captaintells us that pro-Russian residents marked the location with a blue light and sent two SMS messages. The captain explains that this is the problem in the region, that there are people like Ivan who, either actively or passively, blindly believe in Russian propaganda and his preconceived view of what is going on. Coincidentally or not, when the journalists’ car re-enters the city after visiting Severodonestk, a few minutes after it parked near the meeting point with Vladimir, three mortars landed next to him. If you have enough time to reach it, he tells us to run to a ladder that gives access to an underground where they hide from bombing.
Source: Informacion
