An unknown number of civilians survived in Donbass, the scene of intense fighting. Every day, several hundred of them are threatened with evacuation to the west of the country. Most pass through the single station that still operates on Ukrainian territory. Visit the site.
Did the men pull out the corpse in the back of the family car? A weak and pale body sat on a stretcher. The hands on the abdomen do not move.
The man raised his head as the two rescuers tilted the stretcher to climb the stairs. She was very thin under her striped sweater. Straight from a hell on earth.
The stretcher was placed on the ground, near the train. Rescuers lifted the plastic sheet on which he was lying. They lowered him to a hoist. Still lying, the man got up.
Around him, people are multiplying. People who are fragile, sometimes in a wheelchair. The first evacuees to board the single train leaving the Donbass these days.
Pokrovsk is a small deserted town, with closed shops and boarding windows. A city waiting for battle to come.
This station was the unique center of activity in these times of rivalry. Rare trains have become one of the lifelines of Ukraine. Vehicles full of emotion.
people are ashamed
Every day, a squadron of Ukrainian rescue workers cross the dangerous roads of Donbass. Addresses in hand, they are looking for those who have so far refused to leave their homes.
people are ashamed, explains Roman, cigarette in mouth. Fifty, quiet wind, slow speech. He was one of the rescuers who laid down his life to save others.
” People think they have to pay for evacuation, but it’s free. And then they are afraid to leave their homes. “
This fear disappears with the approaching bombs, he believes.
In ordinary cars or small buses, Roman and his colleagues quickly went to cities that had become disaster areas, where sometimes electricity and water were cut off for several days.
Those still living in the Donbass are in a resistant way. They resisted the repeated call for weeks to flee to the West. They resisted the bombings, tried to get used to it.
Roman was also accustomed to dangers, to artillery fire which was extremely dangerous to drive on the roads leading to Kramatorsk, Sloviansk or Sievierodonetsk.
He has been helping his countrymen flee for three months, putting his life in danger. Roman shrugged: Today, all Ukrainians are in danger. You are here too.
Can we sleep under the bombs?
Raise the stretcher on the train. Lying on one of the benches was the old man in a striped sweater. The hands are still holding the stomach. People crowd around him, asking for a way.
Moist heat fills the carriages of this old train. Strong body odors mix, making the environment heavier. The journey can take up to 24 hours, depending on the final destination.
Those who agree to discuss all report variation on the same theme: bombings are approaching; It is better to leave before it is too late.
We are leaving because there is no more food or Ukrainian police. More water, electricity. Really nobody around. There is no more reason to endure the war and its noises.
For a woman, it was a strike that convinced her. This strike destroyed several houses near his home. Roofs collapsed, people burned to death inside.
Another explains that it has learned to recognize the direction in which the shells are flying. Convenient for knowing when to go to the cellar for protection or when to continue gardening.
One morning, however, fighter jets flew over his town, dropping bombs. One of them fell 200 meters away. The house is gone. There are people inside. Needless to say more.
At times, relatives in the shelter convinced an elderly person to leave. Or the children pleaded with their grandmother save her skin while there is still time.
Two girls convinced their mother to leave their house. When booming, we can’t sleepexplanation of the eldest, aged eight. Too scary, too loud noise.
Their young mother seemed exhausted staring into space. The children are no longer sleeping. I just want to live in peace.
What we leave behind
The train leaves in fifteen minutes. The seats are almost occupied. In one corner, two sisters in their 60s are playing cards.
They agreed to leave at once, which did not facilitate the departure. I would rather go home … but there is no medicine.
The train has not yet left Pokrovsk, but the journey has already begun. The decision seems final. Imposed by the destructive force of the Russian army and its war for free the Donbass and its population.
Some quietly admit, others probably think: no one will return to the Donbass. There is no going back because it takes a lot of energy to rebuild life in the ruins of the old.
There is no going back, said a lady. A man with a foot injury is walking along the corridor. He was dizzy, he was in pain. It is visible. He was also heartbroken. There is nothing left. Nothing.
I feel like I’m far from home, whispered an old woman, eyes wet. Her daughter asked to stop the conversation; still too strong of emotion.
A man with his old mother hides his anger. It’s not so much starting at the beginning somewhere else that annoys him. It’s hard to leave your home and everything you built at the mercy of the Russians. It’s tough morally.
Source: Radio-Canada
