Residents of towns along the frontline in eastern Ukraine have been living in constant fear ever since full-scale fighting resumed there. RT’s Roman Kosarev has spoken to those trying to survive in the very heart of the conflict zone.
Six people have died and 12 were injured in Gorlovka, Donetsk
Region, this week alone, the town’s website says. The local
healthcare statistics say the overall Gorlovka death toll in the
conflict has been 115 civilians, 17 children among them.
Now that several months of relative respite are over, those who
had nowhere to flee from the war-torn area, are once again
adjusting themselves to the sounds of artillery fire – a signal
to quickly run and hide in the nearest basement.
“I am 63 years old, and have always worked for my
country,” a woman tells RT. “But now I feel like I’ve
been discarded like a worn-out glove. I used to be happy about
life, but now there's nothing to be happy about.”
The situation in places like Gorlovka was on Wednesday described
as “awful” by the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC), which once again called on the warring parties to show
respect for civilian lives.
“This is an awful situation that is currently developing in
the area,” a senior Red Cross official Laurent Corbaz told
RIA Novosti. “This is against all principles of international
humanitarian law.”
Among those trying to bring life back to normal against all odds
is Vladimir, a repair worker. Every time a building gets damaged
in shelling he and his crew are there, trying to bring essential
services, like electricity and heating, back to functioning.
Repair crews are working round the clock and regularly come under
fire.
“We had just raised the crane when mortar rounds started
striking the area,” Vladimir told RT. “The
anti-government forces told us to hide in their bunker. When the
shelling ended we came out and fled.”
Shelling or no shelling, Gorlovka residents with serious
illnesses, have to get their life-saving treatment.
“If patients don't receive kidney dialysis they will
die,” head of nephrology department at Gorlovka hospital,
Vladimir Konovalov explains. “If they don't receive enough
they will also die. Unfortunately some have already died.”
When the RT crew visited the hospital it was receiving
humanitarian aid from Russia, including items necessary for
kidney dialysis.
There are now 40 people in the town in need of the service
provided three times a week. A trip to the hospital, however, is
now seen as a double attempt at survival by the patients, fearing
artillery strikes as well as medical resources shortage.