Published on : 12/09/2022 – 04:11Modified : 12/09/2022 – 04:13
Since its recapture by the Ukrainians, the city of Kharkiv has become a place of welcome and refuge for many civilians fleeing the fighting.
With our special envoys, Anastasia Becchio and Boris Vichith
Little Artiom, a month and a half, can’t sleep. These last few days have been trying explains his mother, rocking the stroller: “ We made the decision to leave the day before yesterday, when we realized that we were in fact on the front line and it was no longer safe at all. ».
The couple left their home because the situation was unbearable. « We had no more water, no more electricity, and with an infant, that’s not possible. We had planned to go to Poltava, but once we got to Kharkiv, we were told that the Russians had been chased away. We rejoiced and we said, we stay here and we wait “says the young mother.
Like his wife, Dmitry Soloviev says he is surprised at the rapid advance of the Ukrainian forces. When the family left at 7 a.m. on Saturday, all the neighborhoods had not yet been liberated, he said.
“I saw a lot of abandoned military equipment”
Leaving his town on the 200th day of the war in Ukraine, he was able to get an idea of the conditions under which the Russians fled. ” When we passed their legendary checkpoint in the hamlet of Grouchovka, 15 km from Kupiansk towards Kharkiv, I saw a lot of abandoned military equipment. When they held this roadblock, they had buried about fifteen heavy vehicles in the trenches, tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery. And when we passed on Saturday, all these vehicles were there, they hadn’t moved. They ran away taking their legs around their necks “says the father.
The family hopes to return to their home once deminers and road authorities will have cleaned up and repaired Kupiansk.