Irene Savio 03/05/2023 at 12:08 CET
Old Tatiana Grushka cannot be successful with the radio. There is no road to work today, nor was it on the hill. Maybe later, when I finish work at home, I’ll go see if there’s coverage there. In his village of Kamianka, the snow is melting and the mud is sticking to his shoes. The rain and the wind began to pick up those who fled as if smelling destruction and desolation. Where there were 1,300 people, now about 40 remain, with most of the population remaining when the attack first began, a year ago.
But Tatiana does not want to leave. He escaped for a few weeks when the town was occupied by Russian forces and returned last September after the Ukrainians recaptured the town in the southern Kharkiv region. Tatiana endures without electricity, gas or running water, killing hours with a short and skinny dog who follows her everywhere, and her son Nikolai, who looks two decades older than her at 42 years. However, she prefers to talk about her husband, who a few weeks ago stepped in a tunnel and lost one of his legs. She also left him, and they are no longer together. Even worse is the memory of Natasha, her friend from the village. Natasha flees to Spain after killing her husband with a gun and Tatiana doubts that she will ever see her again.
“What I would like most of all is time to see her. Please tell Natasha that,” said the sobbing woman. “We will not leave. Where could we go? We have our land here, our tractors. We also have three cows, which are like part of the family. How can we leave it? “The desolation of some of these places is terrible. There are some where the inhabitants do not know whether they are in the hands of the Russians or the Ukrainians, because they are cut off from communication,” explains Tatiana Zolotopup, who was summoned from Lusk.
cement streets with pig
Graffiti letter Z of the Russian army. the streets are full of rubbish. The buildings were destroyed, the lines hanging from the force. The battle remains of a fierce and dire nature. The war in Ukraine left dozens of devastated villages, almost entirely uninhabited by civilian populations. There are ghost towns that were taken back by Ukraine after months of Russian occupation or they are on the front lines. Where the silence is only interrupted by some commotion. The few remaining inhabitants live in impossible conditions.
Private Anthony originally worked from Horlivka but as a security guard in the city complex of Yatskivka, a town in the Donetsk region where the civilian population is no longer seen. Generally, military vehicles only work, many in the direction of the battle lines, a few kilometers away. Anton also serves in Liman, in the Donbas, but he returns here to see the remaining standing and food for some old people who do not want to leave.
“I know almost all of us have died. I think there are only 20 people left in the whole city. And now it’s like this is left,” he said. “Although I see no reason to rebuild here, there is nothing to rebuild,” he reasoned. “Today I also went to see the house of a friend. It was completely burned and destroyed, because the Ukrainian army attacked its artillery weapons near the Russian attack. Everything was burned,” he explained in a quick conversation before getting into the car and disappearing on a road full of mud and mud
In this way also the Cossack village of Oskil, the suburbs of Izium, the city of Martyrs Kupiansk, which continues under constant bombardment, and also many towns in the Donbas are visible. Towns and cities were laid waste, in which the few inhabitants who had not escaped in the ruined houses or in the damp bastions. There are hardly any people walking in the streets and the cars are moving as fast as possible to cover the roads as quickly as possible. It’s always been easy. The crossing of the lake and multiple bombardments left many roads shattered as did the spirits of the inhabitants.
