Encounter
Ukraine: far from Avdiivka, amputee and now without parents, Yana tries to rebuild herself
The epicenter of the fighting on the Donbass front, the battle for control of Avdiivka continues. The industrial city near Donetsk seems on the verge of falling into the hands of the Russian army which continues its assaults and massive bombings. A handful of people still live in the near-besieged city. RFI met one of its residents, treated in Lviv, in the west of the country, in the rehabilitation center for amputees.
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Yana is being treated in Lviv, in the rehabilitation center for amputees. © RFI/Anastasia Becchio
By: RFI Follow
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With our special correspondents in Ukraine,
Anastasia Becchio and Boris Vicith
Crutches and a phone with a few photos of her previous life on which she can indulge in reading, her passion: that's pretty much all that Yana Kovaliova has today, long blond hair that fall on a face lit by blue eyes.
In Avdiivka, “
the situation is very delicate
”
His house in Avdiivka was partly destroyed by the bombings. One of them caused him to lose his right leg, torn by shrapnel. From her hospital room, this 45-year-old librarian tries to keep in touch with some friends who remain there: "
There is no network, but sometimes, I don't know by what means, they manage to send a message, an SMS, to indicate that they are still alive. They are almost surrounded, the situation is very delicate there and they understand it. They write to me that it's scary, that it's bombarding hard, but despite everything, they made the decision to stay, it's their choice.
»
Yana had also decided to stay while the fighting around the city raged, out of duty: her mother refused to leave Avdiivka. She was killed in a bombing while her daughter was being operated on in Lviv: “
I was still able to have her buried in the normal way, at the Avdiivka cemetery. She rests next to my father. I don't know... Somehow, it's a bit of a consolation to tell myself that she is there, that she is at home, where she wanted to be.
»
A resident of Avdiivka, October 17, 2023. REUTERS - STRINGER
Before the Russian invasion began, Avdiivka had more than 30,000 inhabitants. There are only a few hundred left trying to survive in the middle of the ruins, in the din of the bombings.
As the Russian army gains ground and is close to taking over the industrial city, Yana wonders if she will be able to see her hometown again one day. “
Sometimes I think there will be a possibility, and then I read about it and I become pessimistic. I would really like to go back, but will I have this possibility one day and when? But in any case, as soon as it’s possible, I’ll go, that’s for sure
,” she says with a little laugh. But everything in its time: in the Unbroken rehabilitation center, she recovers from her operations and, while waiting for a prosthesis, learns to walk on one leg.
Also read: Ukraine: Boutcha, the martyr city seeks a future
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