Nicolas Tonev (special envoy to Ukraine), edited by Gauthier Delomez
modified to
8:16 a.m., February 22, 2023
Chickens, dogs, cats… The village of Kamienka, 2,000 inhabitants before the war south of Kharkiv in Ukraine, has everything of a bucolic countryside. But you have to be careful with the plantations of the year… “There can be mines”, explains a resident at the microphone of the special envoy of Europe 1. “Several people jumped on them, the last about three years ago. weeks. Be careful there, a volunteer jumped too”, continues to explain this Ukrainian resident. This is one of the 20 people who have decided to return.
Meeting with a family returned to a village devastated by war.
Credits: Nicolas Tonev/Europe 1
If the region of Izium, occupied by Russian troops for several months, was retaken by Ukrainian forces after heavy fighting, the village has paid the price. Kamienka was effectively a frontline for six months before it was recaptured by the country’s elite 95th Brigade. The city is razed, no house is intact, and mine signs are everywhere.
“We saw the village destroyed, collapsing before our eyes”
The presence of these mines makes it impossible to search for the dead, covered in snow, in the vicinity. “There were around 50 dead (…) and there are still the Russian demons that they left behind”, reports Elena, who does her dishes outside, in the cold.
“We were offered a generator. Basically, we charge the phones ten times a week for my son’s distance school. We got used to it,” she says at the microphone of Europe 1, conceding that this whole context is “terrible, unpleasant, painful”.
“We saw the village annihilated, everything burning, collapsing before our eyes… We saw all that, but the best is yet to come, spring is coming,” she concludes hopefully. The garden will then help the hens to feed the family. The Ukrainian administration promises construction materials, but for the mines, it will be necessary to continue to walk straight.