Guillaume Dominguez, edited by Gauthier Delomez
The Russian army on Monday launched its offensive in Donbass, eastern Ukraine, and is approaching the capital of the region, Kramatorsk. This dangerous situation worries the inhabitants who have chosen to stay put. “The situation is really tough, violent,” one of them told Europe 1.
The noose is tightening around Kramatorsk, the capital of Donbass. The fall of this small industrial city in eastern Ukraine would symbolize the capture of the region by the Russian army. On Sunday evening, the town of Kreminna, located 70 km northeast of the capital of Donbass, fell into Russian hands. Concern has been gaining more and more residents of Kramatorsk, like Julian, 27. “A few days ago, they were more than 50 km from the city, yesterday, 40 km. The situation is really hard, violent”, he testifies at the microphone of Europe 1.
Russia launched its offensive in the east of the country on Monday to “liberate” the Donbass region militarily. Every day, Julian, who still lives there, hears the fighting getting closer. “There are more and more Russian soldiers. They are bombarding us with missiles, rockets and so on,” continues the resident of Kramatorsk.
Civilians targeted
Civilians are now trying to flee the town. Several associations have made buses available to them since the destruction of the station. But they, too, are targeted. So says Yaroslav Boyko, who heads one of the rescue groups. “Now I’m trying to find bulletproof vests for me and my team, especially for the bus drivers who take people to the evacuation zones. If we find some, everything will be fine,” he explains. he.
Photos of the damage in Kramatorsk taken by a resident of the city.
Credits: Yaroslav Boyko
The city of Kramatorsk normally has 150,000 inhabitants. Today, Yaroslav estimates that more than three-quarters have already fled the city.