Mariupol is under the control of pro-Russian forces, with the exception of the Azovstal factory where several hundred fighters are entrenched. Several evacuations of civilians have taken place, including many women and children. Some have already returned to Mariupol but others are still in the camp in the town of Bezimmen, just a few kilometers from the exit of Mariupol towards Russia. Meeting with Lyudmila, one of these women.
With our special correspondent in Bezimmen, Anissa El Jabri
Twenty white and blue tents pitched along the road in the gusts of wind coming from the sea. To enter the Bezimmen camp for evacuees, you have to show your credentials.
At the bend of an alley in the dust, the slim silhouette of Lyudmila, 59, appears, her face pale after two and a half months in the Azovstal underground. She blinks and is still struggling to get used to the light that bathes the camp. ” Of course, after what we went through, we and my family were relieved to come here. It was tough and scary there. Damp, musty. The clothes were all moldy. It is this musty air that we have breathed. Here at least our lungs are free. There was hysteria too. The very first days and also the last days before our departure. »
The desire to find Mariupol
Lyudmila insists she and her family were not forced into hiding in Azovstal. And today, having regained her strength, she thinks of only one thing: to return to Mariupol. ” Because we have nowhere to go. We have no friends or relatives anywhere else. And there, the reconstruction has begun, the city will eventually be restored. At first, yes, there will be no electricity, no water, nothing. But in time, everything will come back. And then we lived in such conditions that compared to what we can live today in Mariupol, we can get used to everything now. »
The evacuees from Azovstal who were able to find a car have already returned to their town.