55 drivers returned to Lipetsk from the Kherson region, where they helped ensure the departure of local residents, including disabled people and orphans.

On a business trip, which was supposed to last ten days, but stretched out for three weeks, all the people of Lipsk went voluntarily. 

During this time, only Lipetsk drivers took to the Crimea 6.5 thousand civilians who wanted to leave the war zone.

In total, 115 thousand residents of the Kherson region were taken out of the combat zone.

Passengers were carried by hand

Sergey Semich, 40, has been working as an intercity bus driver in the Lipetsk region for ten years.

But he had to be in hot spots: in his youth he served on a contract basis in the army, and later carried humanitarian aid to the Donbass. 

When Sergei told his wife that he might be working in the NWO zone, her first reaction was to go with him.

“I tell her:“ This is a man’s work, let me do it myself.

I give you my word that I will return alive, ”he tells RT.

- And I have a son, he recently turned five months old.

And then I took him in my arms and thought that there, in Kherson, the same children remained.

You can't throw them away."

Together with his colleagues, Sergei took out residents from both banks of the Dnieper and from settlements near Kherson.

All drivers had to have time to leave the NWO zone before 22:00, when a curfew began there and movement for civilian vehicles was prohibited.

On the territory of Crimea, drivers could drive at night, their shift lasted from 12 to 24 hours.

“The task has been set – it must be carried out.

We traveled with partners, replacing each other every three to five hours.

While one is driving, the second driver, as a rule, sits nearby and also controls him and the road, ”says Sergey.

Often, buses took out civilians who themselves could not leave the city and villages: the disabled, pregnant women, pensioners, orphans.

“Most of all I remember how we took out the residents of the local nursing home from the village of Cairo.

There were also mentally retarded people among them, and it was, of course, hard for them: after all, they had lived in this house all their lives and did not understand why they had to leave, ”recalls Sergey.

  • Sergey Semich

  • © Photo from personal archive

There were also non-walking people among the passengers in this village - their drivers carried them into the buses in their arms.

“For example, there was a married couple: the husband had no right leg, and the wife had both legs,” adds the driver.

According to him, passengers were often confused and frightened, and some were afraid not only of shelling, but also of the unknown.

Drivers not only followed the road, but also communicated with passengers to reassure and support them.

“You yourself know what the Armed Forces of Ukraine tell about us: that we are orcs, that we eat children, that we take people to the organs.

Passengers had to be reassured.

I told them about my little son, showed them photographs, said that we had come here not to spread rot or humiliate them, but to save them.

I tried to discuss some peaceful topics with them.

We treated the children with sweets, just to calm them down, ”says the interlocutor.

As a result, people came to Crimea more or less relaxed, and there they were met by volunteers and escorted to temporary residences, Sergey adds.

Often, he left the passengers his phone number, and they then called him and told how they were placed.

Some of the passengers even asked to be photographed for memory.

“I want to say that the leadership of our Lipetsk Bus Lines supported us very much on this business trip.

The authorities have already said that there may be more similar trips to the special operation zone, we answered that the crews are ready to go more if necessary, ”says Sergey Semich.

"Contribution to our victory"

Sergey Karpov, an employee of the Lipetsk Passenger Transport Municipal Unitary Enterprise, interrupted his vacation when he saw a message in a work chat that drivers were required to travel to Crimea.

He decided to go on a business trip with a partner.

“We learned that we will work in the NVO zone, on the day of departure from Lipetsk.

The Major General, who gathered us for a briefing, said right away: “Guys, you are not going to a resort, the conditions will not be easy, the task is serious.

If someone wants to refuse, you can do it now, we will find a replacement for you.”

None of us refused,” says 47-year-old Sergei.

  • Sergey Karpov

  • © Photo from personal archive

He recalls that the first assignment on a business trip was the most difficult for him and his colleagues.

Drivers were supposed to take the mobilized from Sevastopol to collection points in the Kherson region.

This had to be done at night and without headlights, so that the columns would not be noticed by local residents and enemy drones.

“We were driving across the field, there was no beaten track.

My partner left the cabin and walked next to the bus - he illuminated the way for me with a flashlight.

So we slowly drove, drove our guys, - the driver recalls.

“That was our first assignment.

The horrors caught up with us, they got a little scared, but then they already worked without fear.

And in general, if you think about it, what we are doing is nonsense, but the work of the mobilized is much more dangerous.”

According to Sergei, the work became more and more at the end of the trip: at first, civilians left the combat zone reluctantly, but the stronger the shelling became, the more willing people gathered at the collection points.

“There were rumors among the locals that the Russians were allegedly deceiving and taking out on buses not civilians, but their military.

In the National Guard and the Ministry of Emergency Situations, who traveled with us to provide cover, we were informed that they might try to shoot at the buses.

Therefore, we approached the collection points in turn: two or three buses would arrive, quickly load up and leave, ”says the interlocutor.

  • Gym where Lipetsk drivers lived for three weeks

  • © Photo from personal archive

After each flight, the drivers returned to the base near the border of Crimea and the Kherson region.

All three weeks the men lived in the hall of the local sports school, where they were provided with folding beds.

They cooked at school on tiles that they took with them.

During the flights, they ate what they bought along the way.

“In principle, we were ready for such conditions, we understood where we were going to work.

They kept our salary, and there was also an additional payment, ”says Sergey.

After 55 drivers returned from a business trip to Lipetsk, the head of the region met with them and presented them with certificates “For indifferent attitude and voluntary participation in the transportation of refugees”.

Like his colleagues, Sergey Karpov is ready to go on a business trip to Donbass again, if necessary.

The man admits that for him this work has become an opportunity to feel his involvement in the victory of Russia.

“At one time, I did not end up in Chechnya, although I did military service in the army just in 1993-1995.

I did not get under mobilization because of my age - I am 47 years old.

But I wanted to make some contribution to our victory.

This trip gave me such a chance,” says Sergey.