In the aftermath of the missile strike on a train station that killed more than 50, evacuations of civilians continued on Saturday in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, under the heavy roar of artillery fire from each side front lines.
Mini-buses and vans came to pick up dozens of survivors of the bombing who spent the night in a Protestant church in the city center, not far from the station, AFP journalists noted.
Nearly 80 people, mostly elderly people, found refuge in this building.
“Yesterday there were nearly 300 to 400 who rushed here just after the strike to take shelter,” said Yevguen, a member of this church.
“They were traumatized. Half ran to take refuge in the cellar, the others wanted to leave as quickly as possible. Some were evacuated in the afternoon by bus. In the end, nearly 80 stayed, I took some too seven at home”, explained this volunteer.
The refugees slept in the small church on the floor on mattresses, before taking the bus west, spared by the bombs.
According to a latest official report from the regional authorities, 52 people were killed and 109 injured in the bombardment which targeted the crowded Kramatorsk station on Friday morning, the main center of the evacuations in progress in the Donbass under Ukrainian control, under the threat of a major Russian offensive.
– Station closed –
Twenty-four hours after the tragedy, the station remained closed and deserted, its access prohibited by police tape.
Wooden planks replaced some of the windows broken by the explosions, but charred cars remained in the forecourt.
The imposing body of the missile, which came crashing down on a lawn on the roundabout in front of the station, also remains there.
Saturday night and day were calm in Kramatorsk itself. But heavy exchanges of artillery echoed throughout the day at regular intervals in the distance, towards the front lines to the north and northwest, some 20 kilometers away.
These front lines around the Kramatorsk cauldron, surrounded to the south and east by the pro-Russian separatist “republics” of Donetsk and Lugansk, and by the advance of Russian troops to the north, have not yet known no major upheaval.
But they are bubbling, with daily artillery exchanges and in particular infiltration attempts around the localities of Severodonetsk and Popaska in the east, Krasnopillia and Barvinkove further west.
Many fear a pincer movement of Russian forces to seize all of the predominantly Russian-speaking Donbass, which would then be surrounded, like what has happened in recent weeks in Mariupol, a strategic port in the south-east.
In the rural area of Barvinkove, Ukrainian soldiers and members of the Territorial Defense were busy fortifying their positions and digging new trenches. The roadsides have been mined, and anti-tank obstacles are installed at all crossroads.
“We will stay here until the final victory,” commented a local commander.
– “Those stupid Russians!”
“Give me a Kalashnikov, I’m waiting for them,” said a local peasant, a former resident of the village. “These stupid Russians are our brothers, why are they bombing us?” This pensioner, who stayed here to take care of the farm animals, was angry.
The Ukrainian authorities in Donetsk and Lugansk have constantly called on civilians to evacuate to the west of the country in recent days. Trains and buses were made available, with the support of many volunteer organizations.
If the Kramatorsk station no longer works, several trains have left the neighboring city of Sloviansk in the direction of the west of the country, it has been noted.
Discreetly, sustained evacuations are continuing in the other direction, towards pro-Russian territories, by road.
Convoys of cars, often old Ladas with the suitcase on the roof, pass each day towards the north under the control of the Russian army, with the tacit agreement of the Ukrainian soldiers on the last checkpoints, noted a journalist from the AFP.
“We go there because we have family there. We find food, it’s calm, there’s no problem,” said a 30-year-old, preparing to go with his family.
Aren’t they afraid of Russian troops? “There are good guys and bad guys on all sides,” he said, changing Ukrainian currency into Russian rubles on the side of the road.
Formerly the industrial pride of the former USSR, the Donbass mining basin, ruined and divided by war since 2014, is historically turned towards Russia, which retains obvious support there.
Some residents obviously have no intention of fleeing the arrival of Russian troops, including women and families.
Nearly 80,000 residents are still in Kramatorsk, 60,000 of whom do not plan to leave the city, acknowledged the mayor, speaking in local media.
If the large supermarkets have closed their doors, and you have to queue for hours to buy fuel, small well-stocked shops remain open in the city center, where activity is reduced but still visible. Kramatorsk nevertheless empties from the middle of the afternoon, to become almost deserted as the night curfew approaches.