Russian artillery has been pounding the city relentlessly for days: there is not a building whose facade is not scarred by at least a trail of impacts. And while the explosions intensify, the vans destined for the evacuation of civilians drive flat out: too dangerous to go below 100 km/h. “We risk being followed”, launch the volunteers of the NGO Refugease, two Americans and a young man from the country.
The first to ask for evacuation are Olga and Volodya, a retired couple whose building ended up too close to the front line. The explosions have destroyed the walls of the kitchen, and both have been living for days in the middle of holes filled with blankets.
“She stays and waits for the Russians”
As the couple gets into the vehicle, a neighbor shows up and looks askance at them. “She, she stays and waits for the Russians, explain the two retirees without passing judgment. We have a daughter in Berlin, she is waiting for us in kyiv and will take us to Germany. For us, the time has come to say goodbye to Donbass, we want to live in peace and far from Putin.”
According to the local administration, of the more than 70,000 inhabitants of Bakhmout, about 5,000 remained, entrenched in their homes. There are those who are waiting for the Russians and those who have simply decided to leave it to fate. Whatever. According to the volunteers, these are the last days when minibuses will be able to enter the city. “Those who don’t leave this week are going to get stuck,” they assure.
“In Lviv they hate people like me”
The entry of Russian troops into the city is imminent. Their outpost is 2 kilometers from the center, on Avenue Patrice Lumumba, which already bore the name of the Congolese leader during the time of the USSR. The Russians have already attempted a nighttime incursion via the ring road, and insignia found on the corpses reveal that the feared mercenaries of the Wagner group have arrived for the final assault.
The second GPS point of the day for Refugease volunteers points to the apartment of “Many Lidia”, 92 springs, all spent in Bakhmout. Her grandson is waiting for her downstairs, in tears. “This woman saw the Nazis, she survived everything, but today she is too old, she cannot get by in these conditions, she must be taken away”, says the man who has no intention of leaving.
“To go where ? In Lviv, where they hate people like me? No, I’m staying at home, in the Don