“Here, the Russians are surrounding us”: in the Ukrainian town of Chasiv Yar, residents resist the invasion

This Friday, Ukraine enters its third year of war. Due to a lack of financial support blocked in Congress, the United States announced sanctions against more than 500 entities linked to the Russian war machine. The Ukrainian front is fragile: 1,000 kilometers of combat, towns which are nothing more than fields of ruins crushed by Russian artillery and drones.

Thus, the town of Chassiv Yar, in the hands of the Ukrainians, is shelled every day by Russian artillery. Around a thousand residents live there thanks to volunteers who supply them at the risk of their lives. Europe 1 followed them.

“The city is 80% destroyed”

Chassiv Yar is accessible via a single path: ten kilometers of muddy tracks under fire across the war field. “There are drones. Machine gunners are shooting at us!” says Olia. “We can get shrapnel there,” adds Vova. Vova and Olya accelerate. “Look, the city is 80% destroyed,” notes Olia. Over hundreds of meters, dozens of buildings were all affected. In this chaos, you have to quickly end up on foot to the shelter. “Here, the Russians are almost surrounding us. They are four or five kilometers on both sides,” explains Olia.

“We woke up, it’s already good”

We go inside the basement. Only five people are in front of Olia. “I’m coming to check that the food has arrived,” she said, interacting with another basement dweller. “We fell asleep, we woke up, it’s already good, we are in good health to move forward,” Olia puts things into perspective.

Mission accomplished. These residents, among the last, are holding on. The sun fades, stray dogs take over. We have to leave again. Russian gunners see far and better and better.