russia is stepping up its attacks on ukraine’s eastern donbass region heavy fighting’s been reported in and around the industrial city of sivera donetsk where the regional governor says at least 12 people have been killed in shelling moscow says it will continue its offensive until it achieves its goals the battle for zavero donetsk its capture would allow russia to advance into the other half of the donbass region the shelling is constant some fifteen thousand people are believed to be hiding in shelters it’s hell you know it’s hell uh first evolution second a lot of deaths third humanitarian problems the russians have reportedly surrounded sivero donetsk on three sides the governor of luhansk province has warned that evacuations are now too risky still some are seizing what could be their last opportunity to escape now it seems like the front is all around the city it’s practically surrounded there are tanks they are like we can see uh trucks from the army being being deployed around the city so it seems very clear that to me uh it’s about to fall in donbass trains are filling up as people seek the relative safety of western ukraine since the war broke out ukraine has become a country synonymous with defiance but russia’s latest offensive is testing its limits my country is dying says this man i am worried [Applause] but we will win and i asked him about the concentration of firepower there yeah it’s in indeed intense firepower that’s everybody who uh we’ve spoken to has said they’ve basically brought everything they have here and in order to capture this one city of sierra donetsk or to be more precise safer than the city that is next to it separated only by a river liciansk um these two places which each of them had once one hundred thousand inhabitants um uh it are surrounded from three sides ever the next from three sides and the other side let’s see is open but the road there has become under huge pressure russian troops are very close and keep shelling this road and that is what makes it so dangerous to travel there so russia has made constant advances in this direction um all of these advances were not very big the ukrainian army is holding the lines as much as they can but every small game brings them closer to the goal of surrounding and the region is now extremely dangerous and we the rest of us can only imagine what it must be like to to live under the constant threat of that constant shelling and firepower how are people they’re coping what are they telling you yeah shelling is happening all over the region even here in kramatowsk which is quite far from the line a plane today dropped bombs on a on a residential area but of course these places that are closer to the front line they are under uh under constant shelling it’s very difficult for people to live there we’ve been to lucichansk two days ago and it’s a really it’s really really really dire situation people hear this shelling they live in the basements you never know where it hits and this is even this place is less uh has been shelled less than several donetsk where shelling is more constant and you see you can watch across you can see across the river and you see several there’s always a few points that are burning um so life has become very dangerous there plus the problems with uh with uh with supplies drinking water has to be brought in by trucks now when the axis is getting more difficult there’s also a problem with drinking water no electricity no mobile phone network no internet so people there feel really abandoned they are some of them are saying that the power like the people in power the administration has abandoned them and i’ve met the governor of this region and i’ve asked him what he says what he has to say towards these people if we continue to evacuate them if doctors are still working there if we continue to supply them with drinking water who can say that we have given up on them by remaining in these places that are under russian fire they expose everybody to danger let’s stick to the facts first the authorities are present in these places we don’t stay there overnight because it is not safe what would be the use of staying in a place where there is no connection and no possibility to organize any help none at all walking across the central square and telling people look i’m here with you that does not help these people the people who are staying there are exposing everybody to danger themselves and the people who keep bringing them water medicine and food it almost sounds like the governor there is blaming people for staying he was definitely angry at this uh this confrontation or he was not happy with this position of course he has a point though because the authorities have been telling people to leave since the beginning of april so that more than six weeks already and they have organized a lot of evacuations and many people have evacuated if you if you look if you behind me there are very few people on the street here in kramatowsk and it’s the same in many places the tragedy is that those people who remain there often people who are really afraid of going somewhere because they’re very poor and they are afraid that nobody will help them these are people who are old who feel it’s too much for them to go it’s also people who are saying well um in the end we’ve seen a lot in our life and it might not end that badly and then often when they realize it’s worse this time it is bad um there is already these opportunities to evacuate they’re already closing and they remain trapped there um so it’s a it’s a very tragic situation but the one thing you cannot blame the authorities for is that they have not told people to leave all right thank you for that uh matthias bullinger in kramertorsk you Video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ1-gQQLLIk
