Stay or go? Ukrainians near the front face a dilemma every day – #Stay #Ukrainians #front #face #dilemma #day
KALYNIVKA, UkraineMarch 21 (Reuters) – It’s finally time for Vasyl Kurlyshchuk to go.
On Tuesday of Ukraine The 74-year-old slowly began sorting through his papers and faded photo albums as the State Emergency Service evacuation team stepped outside the gate of his small home in the eastern village of Kalynivka.
Neighbor Vera came to say goodbye. He was going to stay in the settlement and wanted to know if Kurlyshchuk took his solar battery with him. He decided that he said goodbye and left.
outside, Ukraine loud artillery fire from their positions and less than 4 km (2.5 mi) to the east Russia the roar of shells fired from the front line reminded of the dangers of staying.
Kurlyshchuk is at home 20 he had been living there for more than a year, but now he was planning to go to Kiev to join his son, who left six weeks ago. Not knowing when it would be safe to return, he gathered his documents and black-and-white photographs.
Him National A group of rescuers headed by Artur Shpitsyn, head of the emergency prevention department of the Bakhmut branch of the Emergency Situations Service, gathered.
Bakhmut, east of Kalynivka, since August Russia and Ukraine It is a city that became the bloodiest battlefield of the 13-month war between the forces and thousands of soldiers were killed on both sides.
Spytsyn, himself a native of Bakhmut, is one of dozens of officers and volunteers who risk their lives every day to evacuate people from dangerous places near the front lines.
“In general, everyone is being evacuated,” 32-year-old Kurlyshchuk told Reuters at his home.
“The only question is the time and conditions of the evacuation. Now people have the opportunity to pack their things and think about what to take with them,” he said, adding that this is better than leaving at the last moment.
Emergency services workers since Russia began its full-scale invasion on February 24 last year of Ukraine from settlements in eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions 10 evacuated more than a thousand people and many more families alone or speech with their help way found of volunteers.
WE ARE NO ONE SMALL
Russia Many elderly residents of Kalynivka and the neighboring town of Chasiv Yar, whose forces moved west to besiege Bakhmut, say they have nowhere to go and don’t want to.
For the hundreds of people left in Chasiv Yar, which numbered around 13,000 before the war, what is common now would be unusual elsewhere.
When the cannons are fired at the Russians in and around the city, no one moves.
Many homes and administrative buildings have been severely damaged, and people are relying on humanitarian aid and water distribution points to survive. On Tuesday, Reuters reporters saw a house in the city go up in flames after being hit.
Amidst the noise of the war, Olena, who only gave her first name, was sitting on a bench outside the apartment block, chatting with two friends. They had prepared tea and soup together in the morning over a small open wood fire.
“Vera was evacuated to Poltava, but a lot of people stayed,” said 67-year-old Chasiv Yar, pointing to smartphone photos of his friend leaving for a safer place.
“We would like to see each other again, but this is war.”
Tears filled his eyes as his neighbor, Valeriy Zolotov, was carried out of the building on a blanket and into an ambulance armored security vehicle designed to deliver cash to banks.
Two other residents decided to leave at the last moment and got into the car.
This meant three less familiar faces for Olena and her friends as they continued to Chasiv Yard.
Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Edited by Frank Jack Daniel
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
2023-03-22 01:28:44
Source – reuters
Translation“24 HOURS”