War in Ukraine: postmen deliver pensions near the front
Audio 01:28
Pensioners come to the window of the Post Office car to collect their pension in Starodubivka, east of Sloviansk, June 15, 2022. © Cléa Broadhurst
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, it has been difficult for pensioners to receive their retirement pensions.
The postal services now make rounds, twice a week, in the remote villages of the Donbass in order to distribute these pensions to the poorest people, sometimes near the front line.
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With our special correspondents in Starodubivka
,
Clea Broadhurst
and
Julien Boileau
The post car speeds along the small country roads towards Starodubivka, a village east of Sloviansk.
Elena is responsible for the delivery of pensions in this region, she explains what her work entails: "
For each village, it's different
: here there are 16 people, but in other villages, it can go up to 200 people… People stay.
It is therefore very important to give them their pensions.
They need to have something to survive.
If they are not afraid to stay, we must give them this income.
»
“This pension is our only income to live on”
The faces of the few reunited pensioners light up when the post office car stops to find them.
Serghy is one of them: “
It's important because this pension is our only income to live on.
I am very grateful to the postmen, because they take great risks to come to us.
Really, I want to say thank you to them.
»
The Russians are only a hundred meters away, which makes the rounds of the post office more complicated… Valentina, a 70-year-old lady, survives thanks to her pension and her few vegetables that she grows in her garden .
“
Normally, the pension falls on the 8th of the month, but because of the war, that changes and we are just happy that they come to give it to us at all.
I get about 60 euros.
At this point, I don't care who wins, even if China comes!
Let us live normally, in peace.
»
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