Liberated City of Lyman: “Like Mice in Their Holes”

In early October, the Ukrainian army regained control of the embattled small town of Lyman. Without gas, electricity and running water, the remaining residents are now trying to get on with their lives.

Dozens of police officers from a special unit have gathered in the midday sun. They are armed and in camouflage outside the Lyman City Council building. Blue tape on helmets and upper arms indicates affiliation with the Ukrainian combat units. It is also a show of strength – for about a week the Ukrainians have regained control in Lyman. And on this day the men receive awards for their service in the war.

Medwed – which means bear – is a strong man with a graying beard. He also fought in the recapture of the small town in Donbass. “Freeing Lyman was very difficult,” he says. “It all looks easy on the news. But actually, the brigade running the operation, carried out the encirclement suffered fairly high casualties. It was a very tough fight.”

And the marks of those struggles are everywhere in Lyman. Shards of broken window panes line the streets, large holes gape in roofs and walls, abandoned dogs roam around hungry. Most residents fled a long time ago. Meanwhile, the fighting has moved on – but you can still hear it. But the people of Lyman are used to that.

“Time of occupation was terrible”

Pensioner Lyudmila Romenskaya can finally leave her basement again. She takes the opportunity and looks after her daughter’s apartment. She fled to Germany before the fighting. The apartment is hardly damaged. Only the window panes are broken.

Romenskaya sprays some water on her daughter’s potted plants. “It’s for the soul,” she says. “We relax, we enjoy and flowers, everything, trees. My daughter loves flowers so much. I can’t describe it. It means everything to us, it means life.”

The 61-year-old says the time of the Russian occupation was terrible. Over the weekend, Ukrainian authorities announced they had found hundreds of graves and one mass grave in the city. Apparently, both civilians and soldiers were buried there. Lyudmila Romenskaya recalls:

Most houses are badly damaged

It is not yet known how many people were killed in the fighting. Romenskaya survived and hopes that the Russian troops will not come back to Lyman. “I think they also shot phosphorus. It looked like garlands on a Christmas tree, those lights, especially at night,” she says. “And grenades. We saw the flashes of grenades. We couldn’t get out of the house. Five minutes and back into the house. The house is our shelter.”

But today most of the houses in Lyman are badly damaged. About half need a basic renovation, says the mayor. But many don’t have the money for that. It is mainly pensioners who have stayed behind. Like Volodya and Nadezhda. They collect the branches of a broken spruce tree by the side of the road.

“We collect wood. Who knows if there will be electricity and heating again soon,” they say. “We move to our dacha and spend the winter there. Now we collect wood to heat.”

“We only ever get pasta”

Heating, electricity, gas and running water – none of that is left in Lyman. About 20,000 people once lived here. During the war, the city is important mainly because of its rail connection. It secures supplies for the troops. Maksim Surshan is chopping wood behind the railway lines. Like everyone else here, his mother has to cook on an open fire in front of the gray block of flats that has been shot up.

“I want potatoes, cabbage, carrots. Everything you need for a borscht,” he says. “But we only ever get pasta. It’s bad for my stomach and I can’t get treatment anywhere. There are no shops, no work, no electricity, no house. Just a basement.”

He leads down the steps. His fifth floor apartment was completely gutted. He was able to save a few shoes and jackets. Since then he has lived without light in the cramped rooms. “If only I had the opportunity to fill up the gas bottle. If there is shelling, we sit here and cook with the gas cooker. There is no more gas in the whole building. We sit here like mice in their holes.”

Ukraine has regained control of Lyman. Now security services are looking for collaborators. Because there were a few of them, say soldiers and residents.