Posted on Jul 16, 2022
Riding Ukraine's last train line out of Donbas with families fleeing for their lives
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https://www.npr.org/2022/07/12/ [login to see] /ukraine-evacuation-train-donbas
Every evening a little before 8, a train pulls into the station in this central-eastern Ukrainian town, brakes squealing. It's the last rail service out of eastern Ukraine's bombed-out Donbas region.
Eighty-three-year-old Lidia Havrilenko steps off the train, looking frail and lost. She's holding her most precious possessions in two plastic bags by her side.
"I came with my two cats," she says, as one of the felines fearfully pokes its head from the top of the bag.
She's also traveling with her 52-year-old son, who recently had a stroke and walks with a cane.
Every evening a little before 8, a train pulls into the station in this central-eastern Ukrainian town, brakes squealing. It's the last rail service out of eastern Ukraine's bombed-out Donbas region.
Eighty-three-year-old Lidia Havrilenko steps off the train, looking frail and lost. She's holding her most precious possessions in two plastic bags by her side.
"I came with my two cats," she says, as one of the felines fearfully pokes its head from the top of the bag.
She's also traveling with her 52-year-old son, who recently had a stroke and walks with a cane.
Riding Ukraine's last train line out of Donbas with families fleeing for their lives
Posted from npr.org
Refugees
Russia
Ukraine
Posted 2 y ago
Responses: 2
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Bekitko says his town of Sloviansk, one of the Ukrainian-held parts of Donetsk, is being bombed by Russia "afternoon, morning and night."
His family is Ukrainian but they fled Soviet ruler Josef Stalin's man-made deadly famine in the country in 1932, he says. He lived in Russia for 60 years before moving to Ukraine, after it had gained independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Bekitko says Ukraine should have been better prepared for Russia's invasion.
"Putin gave us ample warning," he says. "We should've been making more weapons and built a stronger army." He believes if Ukrainian governments had been more nationalist, the country might be in better shape.
Vladimir Bekitko sits on the train stopped at Dnipro. He says Ukraine should have been better prepared for Russia's invasion.
Vladimir Bekitko sits on the train stopped at Dnipro. He says Ukraine should have been better prepared for Russia's invasion.
Russia will never stop bullying Ukraine, says Bekitko, until Putin and "all those bastards in the Kremlin are dead."
..."Bekitko says his town of Sloviansk, one of the Ukrainian-held parts of Donetsk, is being bombed by Russia "afternoon, morning and night."
His family is Ukrainian but they fled Soviet ruler Josef Stalin's man-made deadly famine in the country in 1932, he says. He lived in Russia for 60 years before moving to Ukraine, after it had gained independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Bekitko says Ukraine should have been better prepared for Russia's invasion.
"Putin gave us ample warning," he says. "We should've been making more weapons and built a stronger army." He believes if Ukrainian governments had been more nationalist, the country might be in better shape.
Vladimir Bekitko sits on the train stopped at Dnipro. He says Ukraine should have been better prepared for Russia's invasion.
Vladimir Bekitko sits on the train stopped at Dnipro. He says Ukraine should have been better prepared for Russia's invasion.
Russia will never stop bullying Ukraine, says Bekitko, until Putin and "all those bastards in the Kremlin are dead."
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Many of them will end up as refugees in Poland or other countries where our troops, the IRC and the American Red Cross are stepping up to help
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