by Lorenzo Cremonesi
The testimonies of those who arrived in Zaporizhzhia: There were 5 buses, but 2 did not leave because there were few people: Many did not know about the buses: The phones do not work
FROM OUR SEND
ZAPORIZHZHIA – Impressive these Ukrainians who emerged from 56 days of Russian siege of Mariupol! At 4:30 p.m., here at the reception center in Zaporizhia, they disembark from three humped and muddy yellow buses that have become something of a symbol of their country, swamped with refugees fleeing the bombs. They lived in the basements, drank rainwater, ate stale bread and uncooked rice, and were occasionally assisted by a Russian soldier, who deplored the presence of children with them in the barracks. The children saved us, suggests a young mother. But many have buried their children and parents who died in the war in the hastily dug pits on their doorstep. Dirty, exhausted, torn, they come from a journey of well over 24 hours that could tragically be interrupted at any minute by the whim of a Chechen soldier: yet they keep repeating that the Ukrainian resistance will win and We are all the heroes of Battalion Azov and represent the nightmare of Russian soldiers. We journalists want to make this clear to ourselves without being asked: Don’t believe Putin’s lies, we’re going back to our homeland as free men with our flag!
Few at the start
All propaganda? Talking to them does not seem. Instead, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshuk makes propaganda, welcoming her in front of the tent where a first hot meal awaits her, and never missing an opportunity to speak to the press, accusing Russia of violating international law and blocking the flight of civilians. In fact, until a few hours ago, it was about the possible departure of around 6,000 people in a hundred buses between Moscow and Kyiv. But here we only have 79 in total, most of them elderly people. In Mariupol there were 5 buses, but 2 are not served because too few people were waiting for them, the refugees say.
crematoria
Again, until a few days ago, Vereshuk accused Putin of sending mobile crematorium ovens to hide the massacre of civilians and the bodies of Russian soldiers who fell in the streets of Mariupol.
We have the opportunity to speak to about twenty refugees and all clearly deny having ever seen or heard of crematoria. I buried our 37 year old son Aleksei with my own hands. He was bleeding out slowly after a shrapnel from a grenade hit him in the head and back. He could have been saved, but there are no more rescue posts in Mariupol and we couldn’t leave our basement, he says among the crowd, 62-year-old Alexander trying to comfort his wife Vera, who is repeatedly crying that her son is not could . take away
Cut out, isolated
Both, like the others, explain why the main reason for the failed humanitarian corridor is the lack of communication. There are no working telephone lines in Mariupol and there has been no electricity for weeks. Nobody knows anything, the message always arrives late and with enormous difficulties for the rest of the population. When brief ceasefires occur during the bombings, those who still have working cell phones go to an area of the old open-air market where a weak signal occasionally arrives to send brief messages. In truth, hardly anyone knew about the possibility of escaping by bus, I was aware of this because I heard it the other day in a rare moment when I managed to put our old home transistor into operation, says Sherban Nikolaievich .
fights in progress
Everyone categorically denies that the city is now firmly in the hands of Russian troops. It’s still fighting. When we got to the bus yesterday morning, we heard loud explosions from the Azovstal area. The impression that the Russians cannot conquer it, not even with air raids and helicopters, is explained by 15-year-old Andrei Stepanovich together with his 65-year-old father Vladimir. What is striking is how eagerly they describe the volunteer battalion’s fighting spirit, which was once a militant expression of the Ukrainian nationalist right but has now become a symbol of the will to resist. Russian soldiers are afraid of the Azov partisans. They call them ghosts because they never manage to identify them and to catch them they are willing to shoot at the houses with tanks just to blame the Ukrainians for destroying the city.
Urban Warfare
In truth, the methods of urban warfare honed by Azov are now perfect: they strike and disappear, taking captured weapons and ammunition from the Russians. But the worst are the Chechens, who take revenge on civilians every time they suffer casualties, even the young recruits of the battalions west of the Urals are afraid of them, they say, not hiding their admiration. Now all the fighting Ukrainians have no internal differences, there are no more marines or volunteers, they are all called Azov, they add.
April 21, 2022 (Change April 21, 2022 | 23:26)
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