Since their recapture at the end of September by the Ukrainian forces, after five months of occupation, the towns of Yampil and Zaritchné, about 50 km northeast of Kramatorsk in the Donbass, still bear the scars of the violent clashes of the spring and the ‘summer.
Many houses were destroyed and in the pine forest bordering Yampil, trees were downed or blackened. Carcasses of destroyed tanks are still visible.
In this predominantly Russian-speaking region, there are now mainly disillusioned elderly people, for whom the liberation of the area has a bitter taste.
On the house of Nina Marchenko in Yampil, a shell “entered through the roof, crossed the wall and destroyed the top of the cellar”, buried outside, where they often took shelter, tells AFP this woman from 72 years old.
She lives here with her son Andriï, 50, and her daughter-in-law Lyoudmila, 60. On the day of the strike, they were in a shelter with a neighbour.
They rebuilt their house themselves, because, according to Mrs Marchenko, “we were told that we should not wait for the local authorities to do it”.
They barely share 30 m2. On the ceiling, the wallpaper is peeling off in places. A room has been condemned because “there are water leaks everywhere” when it rains, says the septuagenarian.
– “Ukrainian shells” –
Their money in the bank is useless because they cannot withdraw it, despite the authorities’ efforts to keep things running smoothly. The family receives pasta and rice, sometimes meat and pâté, when food aid is distributed.
There has been no electricity since April. Water is drawn from a well in the garden and they collect wood from the destroyed houses around. The forest is too dangerous because of the mines.
“Six shells fell in the garden. They weren’t Russian, they were Ukrainian,” insists Andriï in a loud voice.
How do they imagine the future? “I just pray to God. Please stop the war! I don’t want anything else,” the mother implores, on the verge of tears, crossing herself.
“It’s not just my opinion. Everyone here wants the war to end,” she said.
In a field in Zaritchne, three women and a man from the same family stand near twenty boxes of potatoes that they have just picked up.
None want to give their name.
One of the women, a blue kerchief clutching her hair, accuses, vehemently.
“I don’t trust anyone. Everyone cheats on us. Russia cheats on us. Ukraine cheats on us. Everyone promised us a mountain of gold. In the end, we were abandoned,” she says. .
“So we were begging for bread. We go to the soldiers to ask for bread. The authorities cannot be found because they are afraid of the bombardments,” she continues.
A strike destroyed the house where her two grandchildren lived, who survived.
“It was the Ukrainians who fired the shells. I’m not afraid to tell you. There were no Russians here, they were standing at the checkpoint,” she says, regretting to no longer see his grandchildren, who left with their parents.
Just in front of the field, Sergei, 37, wants to show a small gray cylinder with black fins placed on the ground, in front of the entrance gate of his house. Next to the machine, a picket with a white flag.
A strike took place near his home on the evening of November 3, with several explosions, due, according to him, to a cluster bomb, one of which landed in front of his gate, without exploding.
He asked the local authorities to have her removed, but he is still waiting.
Her two daughters, aged 5 and 8, now only play in the house. “Most of the time they stay inside. Sometimes they go out with us,” he regrets, without wanting to give his name.
The authorities also “promised to pay me, but no one has paid yet. They don’t even provide humanitarian aid, and it’s been a month since we were released”, he complains.
The authorities are not repairing the damage caused to individuals and most public works have been postponed until spring in the face of the onset of winter.
Explosions echo through the valley. The front is only 10 km to the east.
“There, (the Russians) hit the bridge” which spans a river at the bottom of Zaritchne, Sergei explains.
From there, the road leads to Kreminna, about twenty kilometers away, a town still occupied by forces from Moscow, and towards which the Ukrainian army is trying to advance.
