International reporting
Ukraine: in Severodonetsk, the population prepares for the arrival of the Russian army
Audio 02:34
In Severodonetsk, residents have been living reclusively in bunkers for several days.
© Clea Broadhurst / RFI
By: Clea Broadhurst Follow |
Jad El Khoury
3 mins
Russia announced last week that it had begun the second phase of its offensive in eastern Ukraine, beginning, according to Kiev, "
the battle for Donbass
" feared for weeks.
In the Luhansk region, the Russian army is only a few kilometers from the city of Severodonetsk, constantly under the fire of bombardments.
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From our special envoys,
The residents of Severodonetsk who have decided to stay live in seclusion in bunkers.
In one of them, Tatiana is preparing food for a hundred people.
“
Some take sedatives, we try to stay busy.
What else can we do
?
We will do our best to protect our families.
Of course everyone is scared.
We are taking risks staying here and maybe we will regret making this decision.
Thank God today we are alive.
»
“
Sometimes you have to eat expired things
”
Vladimir has been living in this bunker for ten days.
He decided to come here, as the strikes were becoming more frequent: “
It's very dangerous, but I really hope that the Ukrainian forces will push back the soldiers in Russia.
Our town is surrounded now, and we might not receive anything.
We haven't had a lack of food yet, but sometimes you have to eat expired things.
But we receive humanitarian aid with the police, the fire brigade and we don't complain
”.
Oleksander Panin, the chief of the region's fire brigade, explains that he had to take on new roles: “
Now we just put out fires.
We save people whose houses have been destroyed by the bombardments.
We had to fetch the bodies of those killed by the Russian strikes.
Everyone deserves to be properly buried.
Now they are using heavy artillery, so more and more often there is no one left to save.
All buildings affected are civilian buildings.
They were never military targets.
This sinister atmosphere weighs heavily on us
.”
“
Completely demilitarize Russia
”
Sergiy Gaidai, the regional and military governor of the Luhansk region, moved to the city to conduct his operations.
According to him, the Russians will not win this war.
“
They are barbarians who destroy everything in their path.
Russia is a rich country and yet 50
% of its population does not have a toilet inside their house.
These are the official statistics.
The Russians need the war to hide their inability to do anything for their people.
It's time to defeat them.
Then we should completely demilitarize Russia and ban it from using weapons for decades.
What do we expect from the United Nations
?
To act immediately, not just say they are worried.
Thousands of people are dying.
»
Sergiy Gaidai, the regional and military governor of the Luhansk region.
© Clea Broadhurst / RFI
Those who remain in Severodonetsk fear the imminent arrival of the Russians, but still hope to remain Ukrainians.
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