More than eight million Ukrainians have been displaced in their country since the Russian invasion, according to the UN. They are mainly women and children evacuated to the west of the country, far from the combat zones. But since the start of the war, many elderly people have made the decision to stay at home, despite the risks. Sometimes by choice, often for lack of financial means or because their fragile health does not allow them to travel. Meeting with a couple in their seventies who had just left their village located north of Kharkiv, six kilometers from Russia.
With our special correspondents in Kharkiv, Murielle Paradon and Sami Boukhelifa
It is aboard their old ZAZ 968, a typical Ukrainian car from the 1970s, that Gennadi and Tatiana flee their village.
Deeply attached to their home, to their land, the couple categorically refuses to leave. Until the end, both pray for the war to end.
On May 10, the shelling became very intense. I said to Tatiana: I think the time has come, prepare our things and take our papers, we are going to Kharkiv. There was only one road left to leave the region. Our daughter kept calling us and begging us to leave. I finally managed to convince Tatiana and we hit the road.
” And who will take care of our bees? Tatiana worries. Our 23 hives? It’s time to harvest the honey! »
Confused, shocked, traumatized, the lady has spent the last two months in the cellar of her house.
Experiencing war marks you forever. I can’t get rid of this feeling that haunts me. I can’t even name it. When we came out of our cellar, I felt like I had stepped out of my own grave. I feel like a stone. I don’t know if what I’m telling you makes sense. You understand ?
Tatiana leaves behind her bees, but also a son. The latter lived on the other side of the river, in the village opposite. The bridge was destroyed, he couldn’t escape. Tatiana and Gennadi have no news of him.
►To re-read: In Ukraine, the city of Dergachi almost deserted after the departure of many inhabitants