Kramatorsk in the Donbass suffered a Russian missile strike which, contrary to Moscow’s claims, did not cause hundreds of casualties. Despite this climate, civilians flock to the station. During this holiday season, some arrive and others leave.
With our special envoys, Aabla Jounaidi and Boris Vicith
Around the building from the 1950s, nothing recalls the deadly rocket strikes of April 8. The activity resumed, soldiers and civilians take one of the two daily trains for the west of the country.
” No, I’m not leaving here, this is my city says Galina. The old lady is expecting her son and granddaughter who have come from kyiv for a few days. She warned them: life is almost normal in Kramatorsk.
“ All that noise keeps us awake. The day too. But for the rest, life resumes. We have what we need. Sometimes even, believe it or not, we go for a walk in the park. With my retired friends, we go there together. I tell them : “Let’s go!” But it’s not often that the noise stops. »
►Also read: kyiv denies human damage allegedly caused by Russian missile strikes in Kramatorsk
” It’s for our families that we fight »
Next to her, a man in camouflage. Lemon, his battle name, is a sniper on the bloody front of Kreminna. He has just been injured and takes the opportunity to leave the region and visit his wife and son in kyiv. ” After my second injury, he says, I was given permission to go and visit my family, for a change of scenery. It hurts me a little to leave my friends at the front, but it’s to come back better. It is for our families that we fight. There is a sentence that I like: “If your father is a coward, your children will be slaves”. Our children are the most sacred things. »
Lemon leaves behind his comrades, many of whom do not have the chance to escape the front for a few days.
►Also read: in Ukraine, “Many of our people are dead, but even more Russians are dying”