THE Zogiaa retiree, hiding under the stairs, in the early morning hours of Tuesday, at the time that explosions are heard near her house, on the front line, at eastern Ukrainea few hours after Russia announced it would recognize its independence Donetsk and his Luhansk.
“Around 5 in the morning I was at home and I was heading from the living room to the kitchen. When it fell (s.s. the missile), everything was shaking, windows were flying in the air. “I hid under the stairs, it was horrible, just horrible,” said the 68-year-old woman.
When asked what he thinks about the decision of the Russian president Vladimir PutinZoya shrugs: “I do not expect anything good… I’m so tired… We’ve not lived for eight years, we just exist”.
His hometown of Novolukhansk is located in the Donetsk region, but outside the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” which, along with neighboring Luhansk, were recognized by Putin as independent states. Ukrainian government forces recaptured the city from pro-Russian separatists in 2017, but clashes that began in 2014 continued, with serious consequences for residents trapped in their homes who have nowhere to go.
Soldiers patrolling the trenches fear that the separatists, who are now backed by Russian troops expected to arrive in the area very soon, will try to retake Novolukhansk and the surrounding area. “We are ready to stop an invasion of the Russian Federation (…) I do not know how big the scale will be, it depends on how big the army will be,” said one of them, Alexei.
Another soldier, Alexander Ryabov, worries that separatists will try to seize areas of Donetsk and Luhansk that, like Novolukhansk, are controlled by Ukrainian forces. “This possibility worries me, they would become disputed territories and Ukraine would have to defend them by military means,” he explained.
Another retiree, Alexei, has little hope for peace. “I’m very worried. “From this situation, we can not expect anything good to come out,” he explained.
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