Reportage

Ukraine: in Bakhmout, a boxing club transformed into a refuge for civilians

Audio 01:13

Bakhmout, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, at the end of December 2022 (illustration photo).

AP-Libkos

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Not a minute goes by without the artillery thundering in Bakhmout.

In the Donbass, in eastern Ukraine, this city is still at the heart of one of the fiercest battles between the Russian army and that of Ukraine.

Civilians trapped in this fighting depend almost entirely on humanitarian aid to survive.

And for the few children who remain, a rare refuge, one of the so-called “invincibility” centers, has been set up to help the population.

Advertising

Read more

With our special correspondents in Bakhmout,

Aabla Jounaïdi and Boris Vichith

A boxing club transformed into a refuge for civilians.

Here, for a good part of the day, the population comes to warm up, recharge their phones, or do the things that children still do in Bakhmout.

Kolia, 10, stands close to her father.

He just got out of the ring.

I was playing in the courtyard of my building.

But now I play here.

In this square erected at the back of the former boxing hall, there is a refuge within a refuge.

Dmitro, the former schoolmaster, is in charge.

This is the children's corner.

A beautiful space.

It belongs to them.

We try to make do with the toys we have, and try to unload them emotionally.

Here they can listen to music, sing, dance or run.

We also have some sports equipment.

We give them those opportunities.

Boxing gloves, of course, jump ropes, but also soft toys and drawing boxes.

So many means made available by the NGOs to try to limit the mental damage of the war on these children.

Those who can come to the center also have access to the online school.

Which, at home, has often become impossible due to lack of electricity.

►Read also: 

  • Ukraine: civilians still in the city of Bakhmout live thanks to humanitarian aid

  • Ukraine: in Soledar, fighting continues despite Wagner's announcements

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

  • Ukraine

  • Russia