Testimony
Ukraine: "Give me a smile because I'm going to die", a Frenchman recounts his escape from Kherson
A motorist crosses a checkpoint in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, March 26, 2022. © AP/Petros Giannakouris
Text by: Frédérique Genot
4 mins
The flow of refugees fleeing Ukraine at war continues to grow, a new bar was crossed this Wednesday morning, that of 4 million refugees, a figure communicated by the High Commissioner for Refugees.
Among the hundreds of thousands of people who leave Ukraine every day, the Frenchman Jean-Paul Lecour who will soon be in France.
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Jean-Paul Lecour had been trying to leave Kherson for over a month.
Kherson was the first major city to fall into Russian hands.
Jean-Paul Lecour, who shares his life between France and Ukraine, could not leave
at the start of the Russian offensive
because his 93-year-old mother-in-law and his Ukrainian wife had Covid-19.
In recent weeks, he had prepared his departure meticulously and stocked up on fuel.
“
My car runs on gas and petrol.
My tank of gas had been filled, my tank of gas too.
I had everything ready.
I had managed to find 70 liters of gasoline on the black market.
It was very expensive, since it was around 4 euros per litre, but I bought 70 litres
,” he says.
As for leaving Ukraine, that did not come easily.
He had to do it four times.
“
On the first day, I was able to pass five Russian checkpoints.
But the problem is that my mother-in-law, she is 93 years old after all, and she had a hysterical or anxiety attack.
She started crying and I had to turn around.
The next day, we tried again, we were able to pass three checkpoints and at the end of the third, we were told that we would not be allowed to pass
, ”says Jean-Paul Lecour.
► To read also: Ukraine: in Kherson, "they surrounded us and took us hostage"
The fear of Kalashnikov fire
On March 24, he thinks of trying the experiment again, but takes fright because of heavy exchanges of fire which last several hours and which he interprets as the beginnings of a new military intervention.
Finally, nothing happens the next day.
The crew hit the road on March 26, at a quarter to six, just before the end of the curfew.
It then takes 8 hours to cover the 90 kilometers from Kherson to Mykolaiv.
“
I was afraid of only one thing: we passed all the Russian checkpoints and from the moment we had passed the last Russian checkpoint, we were going towards the first Ukrainian checkpoint.
And it is this part that is the most dangerous, because you find yourself between the Ukrainian lines and the Russian lines.
We saw bombs falling not far from us.
I wasn't worried about that.
I was rather worried about possible shots from Kalashnikov, things like that...
”, he says, without thinking of the risk incurred by transporting his 70 liters of gasoline.
Several hundred cars make the same route, but they are filtered at checkpoints.
Each time, you have to empty everything that is in the vehicle.
The young men are searched, undressed, to check if they have traces on the body making it possible to identify the combatants.
The meeting with a Russian soldier whose face "was that of a child"
After Mykolaiv there are still checkpoints, but the most difficult part is over.
Remain, engraved in his memory, images.
Those of the very strong moments in Kherson at the beginning of March, when the inhabitants of the city stood unarmed, facing the soldiers.
And then this crossing, trying, but without incident during the Russian controls.
“
In any case, with me, they have always been correct.
I've never had a problem with a Russian soldier.
Never.
Some even joked with me.
I have an image in my head.
A Russian soldier... His face was that of a child.
He came to the window, he looked at me and he asked me:
'give me a smile because I'm going to die'
. That's what he told me
,” he recalls.
► To read also: Ukraine launches a site to help the Russians find soldiers killed or captured
Jean-Paul Lecour, who is also surprised to have had no help from France.
We spoke to him this morning.
He was then in Germany after crossing Europe via Moldova.
He should be in France by now.
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