Attacks in eastern Ukraine: “You don’t know who is shooting from where”

A basement, 27 residents: In Sievjerodonetsk, people are trying to get to safety from the shelling – and yet civilians have been killed again. But the governor is also optimistic.

The women have built a small fireplace out of bricks. Just a few steps away from their shelter in Sievjerodonetsk. 27 people live in the basement. They cook in small groups at the fireplace outside the door. A thin soup is bubbling in two pots. Again and again the women have to run back into the basement.

More than 100,000 people once lived in Sieverodonetsk in the Luhansk region. Today most have fled.

The teacher Tamara Nesterenko is kneeling over the pots when another bullet hits them. She wipes the tears from her face. “In the beginning it was still possible to flee. But we thought that the war wouldn’t last long – like in 2014. But where can we go now?” The streets were being shelled, so they waited. But it doesn’t stop there: “You don’t know who’s shooting from where.”

“It hurts to see my hometown destroyed”

Again there is a crash somewhere in Sievjerodonetsk. Sometimes the impacts are very close. Four people have been killed in the past 24 hours, according to Ukrainian sources. There had already been fighting here in 2014 – but nothing compared to what the residents are experiencing today.

The city has developed in recent years. Many refugees from the so-called People’s Republics controlled by Russia moved here. The front was only about 40 kilometers away at the time – but that was enough to forget the war.

The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajday, says the ARD, he is born in Sieverodonetsk. “It hurts to see my hometown destroyed.” But he has seen what has been achieved in recent years. There have been great advances in hospitals and kindergartens. “That’s why I’m sure that after our victory we’ll rebuild everything within five to seven years,” he says.

Buildings of the Azovstal plant are to be demolished

But currently nobody knows how much longer the Ukrainian troops can hold their positions in the region. Governor Hajdaj had warned in the past that Sievjerodonetsk could become a second Mariupol. Russian troops have now taken control of the port city on the Sea of ​​Azov.

The ruler of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Puschilin, invites you to a press tour there: The port should serve as a transshipment point for building materials, because there will be a lot of them. The logistics built in the port are very important, and the site is now being demined. “Everything develops according to our initially set goals.”

The buildings of the Azovstal plant are to be demolished. According to Russian information, more than half of the Ukrainian soldiers entrenched there have surrendered. Ukraine has not yet commented on this.