“There must be order at home”: how the front-line Yasinovataya lives under constant shelling

Over the past three months, the Ukrainian army has fired more than 28 thousand ammunition in the Donetsk People's Republic, according to the DPR representative office in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire (JCCC).

As a result of the shelling of peaceful cities and towns, 117 civilians were killed, including four children.

Another 529 people were injured.

“For 91 days of escalation (since February 17.

), 2954 facts of firing were recorded by the DPR JCCC, of ​​which 2686 were using heavy weapons. In total, the enemy fired 28,380 ammunition of various calibers,” the center said in a statement.

One of these cities, which is subjected to constant shelling, was Yasinovataya.

Over the past two months, in the city, where there is not a single military facility, 19 people have died, 46 have been injured, the head of the city, Dmitry Shevchenko, told RT.

"Quietly - we work, loudly - into the basement"

Yasinovataya is located 25 km north of Donetsk and 10 km from Avdiivka, which is controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

To the west of the city, for the past eight years, there has been a line of demarcation between the forces of the DPR and the Ukrainian army.

Over the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian army fired 24 BM-21 Grad missiles from Avdiivka along Yasinovataya.

An 83-year-old pensioner was wounded.

Also affected were apartment buildings and a private residential building, the Yasinovatsky multidisciplinary technical school and school No. 1.

Fortunately, the children were not injured - all kindergartens and educational institutions in the city are temporarily closed.

During the shelling, the school was staffed by public utilities who were repairing the building.

“While people were working, shells began to fall nearby.

Fortunately, this time no one was hurt, everyone managed to go down to the basement.

After that, I let people go home - let them rest.

After such a worker from a person is no longer, he will only listen to where he flies.

People are scared, they are already morally tired, ”Vladimir Sergienko, director of the city utility company, tells RT.

Public utilities workers are at risk of being shelled every day, he said, often resuming after workers arrive at the site of the destruction to repair a damaged house, water supply or power line.

It is dangerous to fully repair damaged houses and apartments due to constant shelling, so for now, public utilities cover damaged roofs and windows with foil so that people can live in a house or apartment that was shelled.

During a lull in the city, janitors take to the streets to remove glass, bricks, pieces of slate that are lying on the streets after shelling.

• Shells also landed on Lenin Boulevard in the city center

• © Photo from social networks

“We clean up so that people do not get injured on the way to work or to the store.

Moreover, there are many elderly people left in the city,” Sergienko explains.

- We have already learned to navigate the situation, it is impossible to plan work in advance.

Quiet means we are working, loud means go to the basement.

Frightened - go home, lie down.

Now the company, headed by Sergienko, employs 77 people.

86 employees have left the city during the past two months as the shelling intensified. 

“For example, 63 janitor worked for me, now there are 34 people left,” says Vladimir.

He himself was born in nearby Makeevka, but has been living in Yasinovataya for the last 44 years.

His son is fighting in the DPR army.

The daughter, together with a small child, went to Makeevka.

Vladimir and his wife remain in Yasinovataya and are not going to leave.

“As they say, who else, if not me,” smiles Vladimir Sergienko.

- Although my business is small: to organize work and pay people a salary.

But thanks to my workers for their work,” says the man.

A native of Yasinovataya, Mikael Minasyan, believes that after the end of the war in the Donbass, a monument should be erected to public utilities.

“Public utilities work every day: immediately after the shelling, they go out to restore destroyed houses, schools, a hospital - there was a direct hit in the children's department, but, fortunately, no one was hurt.

By the Day of the Republic, May 11, stops in the city were painted in the colors of the flags of the DPR and the Russian Federation, trees were painted, can you imagine!

Despite the shelling, the city has electricity, gas, and water,” says Minasyan, head of a branch of the Young Republic NGO.

• © Photo from social networks

According to him, now the streets in the city are almost empty.

Sometimes you can meet residents who try not to go out into the open, but stay closer to their houses, where they can hide in case of shelling.

“Often shelling occurs in the morning when people go to work: at 07:30-08:00,” he says.

Mikael is 25 years old, in February he volunteered for the army of the republic.

Now the young man serves in the "Pyatnashka" battalion.

As a recruit, he does not yet participate in the hostilities themselves, but provides humanitarian assistance to civilians, including in Mariupol, and participates in logistics.

“Among my acquaintances and friends, about 70% of the guys went to serve.

There are guys who prefer to sit at home.

I can't say that I blame them for that.

At the same time, there are those who are doing important work in the rear.

For this I shake hands with them, because without the rear there would be no army, ”says Mikael.

Suppliers are afraid to go to the city

The head of Yasinovataya, Dmitry Shevchenko, told RT that over the past two months, about 30% of the inhabitants have left the city.

Among them there are those who left for neighboring, safer cities, but on weekends they return to Yasinovataya to their relatives.

At the same time, Shevchenko is confident that most residents will return when the city becomes safe again.

“Before the special operation, about 22 thousand people lived in Yasinovataya, now, according to my observations, there are about 15 thousand. Of all those who left, only four families took documents for children from schools and kindergartens.

That is, the rest of the families plan that their children will continue to live and study in Yasinovataya - this is an important indicator.

I also want to separately note that not a single head of the enterprise in the city left, everyone stayed to work, ”says the head of the city.

Shevchenko believes that most people do not leave because, over the past eight years, they have become accustomed to living in a state of war.

• Locomotive depot "Yasinovataya-Zapadnaya".

• © Photo from social networks

“For us, this war began in 2014, and now its final phase is underway.

There is another very important reason: people are very attached to their homes and native land.

It’s hard to explain, but it’s such a state of mind, mentality,” he says.

As for the destruction in the city, over the past two months, more than 1,000 objects have been damaged by shelling in Yasinovataya.

All of them are civilians, because there is not a single military facility in Yasinovataya.

About 85% of buildings damaged by shelling are private and apartment buildings, the rest are shops and enterprises.

Shevchenko said that when the authorities conduct an evacuation from the city, they tell people the address where the bus will leave from at the last moment.

This is done so that the Ukrainian army does not start shelling the place of gathering of civilians.

Because of the shelling of the city and adjacent roads, food suppliers are afraid to travel to Yasinovataya: there are fewer products in stores, and their prices have risen.

Residents of the city told about this RT.

“There are essential products, medicines too, but in general, many shelves are empty, suppliers are afraid to come to us.

Prices have doubled for the same reason,” says Alexandra Voloshina, 16, who stayed in Yasinovataya with her family.

Her mother did not want to leave the city without her husband, who works in the rear.

In addition, the family is afraid of the unknown: it is not clear how long they will have to leave, where and what to live on.

Alexandra's mother also works - in a kindergarten.

Although now institutions do not accept children, employees still go to work: they do documentation or clean up the territory after shelling.

“In general, our city is small, in peacetime you will not meet crowds of people on the streets, and now it seems that a couple of families have remained in the city.

The streets are empty, no one walks.

People spend the night and live in basements or in the corridors of their houses,” says the girl.

Alexandra herself administers the "roll call" - this is the name of groups or chats in social networks, where city residents write about whether they are shooting in their area or not.

So people understand in which areas it is safe and where it is impossible to go.

For example, all residents of the city know that if a sound is heard that looks like a machine gun, it means that a drone is being shot down and shelling can resume, Alexandra says.

“There is not a single district left in the city where it would not fly.

Over the past two weeks, several residents have died and been injured.

For example, a girl and her mother went to the well for water, a shell flew in, the girl was seriously injured - her leg had to be amputated.

The man who stood next to them died immediately.

Another woman was driving to work in a taxi in the morning, and the car came under fire: the woman died, the taxi driver miraculously survived, ”says the girl.

Alexandra is studying at the Yasinovatsky College of Donetsk University of Management at the Faculty of Commerce, but is not yet able to attend classes in person.

“The habitual life, of course, has changed recently.

I participate in the folk song ensemble "Gorlitsa".

We were supposed to have concerts in the spring: we participate in events not only in the DPR, but also in Russia.

Due to active hostilities, I had to forget about concerts for the time being.

I really miss my team and hope that we will see each other as soon as possible, ”she says.

Went home under fire

Alla, a 55-year-old resident of Yasinovataya, also had to change her usual way of life due to shelling.

She talks about her life briefly, like a soldier.

“The manner of dressing comes down to practicality and convenience, the house should be in order and everything is at hand.

Water is collected, linen is washed, things are removed.

There should always be a supply of bread and medicines.

And we also equipped ourselves with a place where you can sit at home, under a load-bearing wall: a blanket, a deck chair, a flashlight, ”says the woman.

Three weeks ago, she left the city for a while to stay with her relatives, because she could no longer endure the sounds of shelling and the whistle from falling shells.

All eight years she remained in Yasinovataya, leaving only for one month in 2014.

Alla knows for sure that she will return to the city: here she has friends, her mother, colleagues and work.

“It became psychologically difficult for me to be in the city, I can no longer hear it.

After the shelling, a panic attack begins, I can’t sleep, I can’t eat.

Due to the fact that it is dangerous to go out, you are deprived of freedom of movement: work, home - and that's it.

Nervous exhaustion builds up.

I will improve my health, sleep, calm down and come back, ”says Alla.

According to local residents, there is almost no public transport in the city because of the shelling.

Intercity flights have also been canceled, except for one from Makiivka: the bus reaches the first stop in Yasinovataya, and then, to the city itself, people go on their own.

Villages in the Yasinovatsky district, around the city, are also being shelled.

A resident of the village of Zemlyanka, Yana Varapanova, said that she came under fire at the end of April when she was returning home from Makiivka, where she works.

When the shelling began, the bus driver turned around and drove back, and Yana went out onto the highway to walk.

“The first shell exploded 150 meters from me: I fell into a hole and lay there for about 15 minutes. Then I got up and went on.

A civilian car was driving ahead of me, it flew into it - people died.

Locals ran towards me, persuaded me to turn back, and I had children in the village.

I know that it is even more terrible for them than for me, so I went further, read “Our Father”.

When I hear the whistle of a shell, I crouch or hide, then I walk again.

And so I walked seven kilometers to the house, ”says the woman.

According to her, on the May holidays, shells did not arrive at them for three whole days - now this is a long lull for the residents of the Yasinovatsky district.

May 9 was almost the only day when local residents took to the streets with their families to calmly take a walk.

“On this day, only ours were shooting, we calmly went about our business.

When our people shoot, it's not scary.

A lot of people were walking with children.

All with St. George's ribbons, smiled, congratulated each other on the Victory.

It was a very good day!”

Yana recalls.