E. Ukraine's Lugansk: From busy city to ghost town
9 Jul, 2014 10:39 / Updated 10 years ago
One of Ukraine’s biggest cities in the east, Lugansk, once home to almost 450,000 people, has recently become a ghost town – deserted streets, broken glass and abandoned households after repeated attacks by Kiev troops.
The bombing never stops. Every day bring news destruction and new
casualties. Shells are landing not only in the suburbs but also
in the city center, making Lugansk a very place dangerous to live
in.
Just in the past 24 hours, Kiev forces fired 13 artillery shells
at the city, killing two people and injuring six more, according
to Lugansk city council. Residential blocks and several public
buildings were destroyed in the attack.
On June 9, there was a strike on a residential building in the
city center - all the people miraculously survived. “I had
just gone out to the balcony and then I heard glass breaking and
I realized we were being attacked,” says Grigory Rudenko, a
local resident.
Another resident, Valentina Verbetskaya, is happy that the bombs
didn’t hurt her neighbor: “You were on a balcony? And you
survived? Oh, my God!”“I don't know what to do, where
to hide, where they're going to fire from next time…” she
adds.
The locals joke that there are no traffic jams in Lugansk as the
majority of its residents - tired, nervous and angry - have
already left the city to escape the attacks.
Local residents who have remained in Lugansk worry that a
humanitarian crisis may engulf the city: food, water supplies and
electricity are scarce and local hospitals may soon stop
functioning in the area.
The city’s public services such as banks, shops, post offices and
restaurants have closed their doors in fear of possible attacks.
RT video depicts a damaged building which used to be one of the
city’s banks in Lugansk's center. A self-defense forces base was
reportedly the aim of the Kiev troops. However, this is about 1
km away from the building.
RT's Maria Finoshina reports from the scenes of recent attacks in
Lugansk.