The Bakhmout region is still resisting, but the noose is tightening. Chassiv Yar, where the civilians are clinging, is a village stuffed with Ukrainian artillery, 15 kilometers from the front and which could fall just after the symbolic city.
With our special correspondent in Chassiv Yar, Vincent Souriau
” Come in, come in! says Alina with a big smile, smoking a cigarette in front of her grocery store, as if nothing had happened. After all, why should she care?
“ The soldiers are there, why shouldn’t I do the same? Yes, yes, I’m a little crazye, she concedes. But everyone helps as they can. Me, the weapons, it scares me so, I stay and I sell them bread and sausages “.
“ They won’t make it this far! »
The arrival of the Russians here and the possible invasion of her neighborhood, she doesn’t even want to think about it. “ They won’t make it this far! The army will stop them “, she assures.
Alina wants to keep her spirits up until the end, when there has been no electricity in town for 15 days, no more heating, no more running water and in the event of a glitch, even fewer hospitals to accommodate The wounded.
” But do not worry ! We have a first aid kit. Me, I do whatever you want, doctor, nurse, technician. Yes yes, we will put a bandage, we will disinfect and then that’s it laughs Alina.
Russian advancement
In recent weeks, Russian forces had advanced north and south of Bakhmut, cutting three of the four Ukrainian supply routes and making the position of the defenders increasingly precarious. The Ukrainian general staff did not give any details on the situation in Bakhmout on Friday, contenting itself with noting that the army had repelled 85 Russian attacks on the entire front in recent days.
►Also read: War in Ukraine: in Bakhmout, a symbolic setback is looming for kyiv