War in Ukraine: with Donbass families evacuated from the front area
Audio 01:23
Alla Pleskach, her husband Vassil and their son Sania fled after their house was destroyed by a shell in the Luhansk region.
© RFI/Anastasia Becchio
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The Russian forces pursue their objective of conquering all of Donbass, but they come up against resistance from the Ukrainians.
Fighting is fierce in the Lyman and Severodonetsk regions in the Luhansk region and further south near Mariinka, which borders Donetsk, under Russian control.
The inhabitants of these regions continue to flee, when they can.
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With our special envoys in the workers' city of Kurakhove, about twenty kilometers from the front line,
Anastasia Becchio and Boris Vichith
With its dozens of boxes of clothing stored in the large entrance hall, the Palace of Culture has become a transit center for people fleeing combat zones.
But for the past few days, the place has been unusually quiet.
The Palace of Culture has been transformed into a reception center for refugees.
Kurakhove, Ukraine, May 10, 2022. © Anastasia Becchio, RFI
“
There have been intense bombardments for three days and that is why we cannot evacuate people from Vouhledar and Mariinka
,” explains Ekaterina Radzichevska, the reception center manager.
So it's quiet here.
Of course, that's not a good sign.
»
She hears from a family that has just been evacuated from a village under fire.
Alla Pleskatch, her husband Vassil and their son Sania are sitting on chairs, haggard.
“We are in shock, reports Alla. Our house was destroyed by a shell. We just walked out with what we had on us. We have nothing left. I've been out of work for two months and neither has my son.
»
The son, Sania, 33, is prostrate in a corner of the room.
He refuses the tranquilizers offered to him despite his father's encouragement.
It's a miracle that the ambulance was able to take us here, continues Alla: “
We couldn't set foot outside.
It was explosion after explosion.
Next door our friends were killed, a 50-year-old man and his wife.
It is simply horror.
»
A steaming
borsch
awaits the three survivors in the next hall, but they politely decline.
They still need time to come to their senses.
© RFI
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Ukraine
Day to day war in Ukraine
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Refugees