The rocket that hit Shevodov, killing two people, put the village at the center of a dangerous chapter in the war in Ukraine. “I am terrified. People we knew very well were killed,” says a resident of the area.
When a explosion shook her small village of Poland Sevodov, Joanna Magus’s first thought was that something had happened at the nearby grain processing facility.
But the reality was much grimmer — one missile of unknown origin had exploded in Sevontov killing two people and putting the village at the center of a dangerous chapter in the war in Ukraine.
“I heard a huge explosion, a horrible explosion and then I went to the window and saw a huge cloud of black smoke…I saw people running. I thought maybe something had happened in the facility, that one of the machines had broken down and exploded.”
“I’m scared. I didn’t sleep all night,” says the 60-year-old teacher of the village’s High School, which is about six kilometers from the border.
“I hope it was a missile that was ejected because otherwise we are helpless,” she told AFP on her way to work in the village of just a few hundred people.
“I’m terrified. People we knew very well were killed. It’s a very small community.”
Russia today blamed Ukraine for the deadly blast, with Belgium saying it was apparently caused by the use of Ukrainian air defense systems to “counter Russian missiles”.
Many locals kept their children at home while others assessed the damage caused to village buildings by the blast.
After a sleepless night, school principal Eva Bira decided to keep it closed.
“I told the parents I don’t see any reason to close the school, but the students didn’t show up. It seems the parents kept them at home amid the heavy police presence,” he told Reuters.
She was at another school in another community when the explosion occurred, but a staff member who lives about 15 kilometers from the school informed her that the explosion shook the windows.
One of the victims was the father of a former student at the school and the other was the husband of a school cleaner, says Bira, who worries about the psychological impact the explosion will have on her students.
“Since the start of the war we have been analyzing the risk and recently things had calmed down, but here we are today. It is scary.”
The incident immediately raised fears that NATO might become directly involved in Russia’s war in Western-backed Ukraine, but the situation calmed as authorities urged citizens not to jump to conclusions.
–“We were not expecting that”–
The two victims were men in their 60s and both worked at the local grain processing business.
“We didn’t expect something like this to happen, even if accidents happen, especially when the war is just six kilometers from our village,” Bira tells AFP.
Local authorities declared three days of mourning after the explosion.
An AFP reporter at the scene of the blast said the site had been cordoned off and a photo released by police showed a crater with metal debris and an overturned truck-sized vehicle.
Policemen stand on the road leading to the village, which apart from the school has few buildings, a church and a cemetery.
Asked by AFP, priest Bogdan Wazni says he knew both victims well.
“They were very kind. They helped the parish whenever I asked for help. We repaired the facade of the church recently and one of them had helped.”
RES-EMP
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