2023-08-14 00:36:24
Yana Statna is only 27 years old. Since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly a year and a half ago, she has witnessed the chilling devastation that the Russian invasion has brought to the people of Donetsk. Once or twice a month, she and her father leave the southwestern Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi for the eastern region, with cars full of the most necessary products. They reach Vugledar and Avdiivka, as well as a number of other settlements right next to the front line, where thousands of inhabitants still remain.
Some 200 people – of the 15,000 who lived there before the invasion – remain in Vugledar. Some 1,800 of the 30,000 residents remain in Avdiivka.
“We go where no one else would go. We have to let these people know that Ukraine has not forgotten about them,” Yana explains. They don’t ask for much. “Lanterns, bread, water. In winter they melted the snow. Now they trust us. We also give them any food that can be cooked without fire or gas”, says Yana.
They are left there without electricity, gas or water, hiding in dark cellars among the ruins, often only a couple of kilometers or even less from the Russian trenches. Still, they are unwilling to flee and cling to their homes, disfigured by the Russian bombs and missiles that continue to rain down there several times a day. “They cling to them even though there’s hardly any of those left,” Yana continues.
Some inhabitants of this highly industrialized region find it extremely difficult to accept the need to start a new life somewhere where their skills and experience are of no use. Others refuse to abandon their animals, like a woman from Avdiivka who cares for her 17 cats and 12 sick and disabled dogs.
About 80% of Avdiivka, if not more, is “destroyed, scarred, burned.” Vugledar, being a smaller city, looks even worse than beleaguered Bakhmut.
Twice a month, Yana and her father travel to the besieged Donetsk towns of Vugledar and Avdiivka to deliver basic aid to residents who refuse to leave their homes despite Russian shelling Rostyslav Averchuk
Yana shares that her heart breaks when she hears an old woman say that she lived there for 75 years and is ready to die, which she accepts. “Our citizens do not deserve to die just because some inhumans with their imperialist ambitions decided that they have the right to decide who dies and who lives.” “It is a war of annihilation, the one led by the Russians. It seems they want to make this land uninhabitable, razing it to the ground”, he laments.
Russian soldiers cannot advance there despite all attempts, stopped by the Ukrainian Army. This angers them even more, so they simply shower the cities with bombs. Aviation attacks several times a day. New craters even appear on top of older craters.
Even reaching the cities is extremely risky. “We practically have to fly over roads that have been perforated by bombs,” reveals the volunteer.
Once they get there, they have to work very fast. There is no time to talk. “Drones are constantly circling above you. And the problem is that you don’t know if they are ours or not”, shares Yana. “Only if minutes later a bomb falls near you, do you know for sure that it was Russian.”
Often the volunteers don’t even silence the car, they quickly get the aid out of the cars and drive away. “This way there is a better chance of going unnoticed by ‘the orcs’ [por los rusos] and not cause problems for the village or the civilians,” he explains.
According to the young Ukrainian, the Russians do not care if it is a civilian, military, evacuation or humanitarian aid car. “They start shooting when they detect any movement.” “What the Russians are doing is a war against civilian infrastructure, against innocent, unarmed, absolutely peaceful people. They claim to want to free people, but the only thing they can ‘free’ someone from is their life.
Yana often meets Ukrainian soldiers whom she refers to as heroes and titans. Books will be written about what is happening now in Vugledar, he says. “Many of them had nothing to do with weapons. They were masons or baristas. However, when this disaster occurred, everyone made the decision to protect their family and homeland. Simply because nobody would do it except them », he explains.
They are tired, but they do not lose motivation. They know what they fight for. Although she is not a soldier, Yana also knowingly puts her life at risk. She carefully prepares for each trip. However, she often remains a lottery.
“But it’s a lottery no matter where you live in Ukraine because you can be killed by a Russian missile or a drone anywhere,” Yana adds.
There are moments that you can hardly explain. Sometimes they get stuck somewhere or meet someone only to find out later that this helped them avoid a disastrous attack where they came from. “I have always been a religious person, but I made myself believe even more in God and in his protection,” says Yana. “Of course it’s scary. Only a fool or a liar can say that he is not afraid ».
You can’t just stay in Chernivtsi, a relatively safe city, and try to live your life. “War concerns each one of us,” she explains. “We are fighting not only for the territories. We are fighting for life.”
#Ukrainians #deserve #die