The strategically important city of Lysychansk suffered severe damage after months of shelling. The residents complain of numerous deaths. Citizens are cut off from any sources of information and only see Ukrainian soldiers. They blame Ukraine.
Maksym Katerin’s eyes are red. He is standing in his garden in the Ukrainian frontline town of Lysychansk in front of two fresh graves strewn with rose petals. On Sunday a grenade hit here in the garden. His mother Natalija and stepfather Mykola, both 65 years old, died instantly.
After months of shelling by Russian troops, the strategically important city of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine, located between Kramatorsk and Sievjerodonetsk, has been badly damaged. There is no drinking water, no electricity and no telephone network. Ukrainian artillery used the high position of Lysychansk against Russian troops fighting for Sievarodonetsk on the other side of the river.
Katerin’s neighbor Yevgenia Panicheva cries when she thinks of the death of Katerin’s mother. Her “stomach was torn open,” she reports. “She was a very good, kind and helpful woman,” she adds. “They bomb and they bomb – and we don’t know what to do.”
Their once-green avenue, lined with mulberry and cherry trees, faces the Russian positions across the river, with Ukrainian artillery stationed nearby. A house was completely obliterated by the shelling, a dud juts out of the street.
Nataliya and Mykola were not the only civilian casualties in Lysychansk on Sunday. A six-year-old boy was also killed, police say to the AFP news agency.
Torn power cables lie on the street in the center of the city, which was home to almost 100,000 people before the war. Malls are burned out, the sky is yellow and the air is filled with the acrid stench of smoke.
Oleksandr Pochna, a lieutenant colonel in a special police unit, says the shelling is increasing every day. The police are trying to persuade as many residents as possible to evacuate.
The few people who venture outside are on foot or by bike. At a fire station, some of them are queuing for greenish looking water. They say they can’t leave: because of a lack of money, because of their relatives or because they have to take care of small children and pets.
Sergiy, a metal worker, says: “We have little twins who are five months old, so we have nowhere to go, we’re in the basement.”
Some of the people queuing for water are calling for negotiations to end the conflict. “Can’t we come to an agreement without guns?” asks a woman named Galina. “We must strive for an agreement.”
Many people in the city have only seen Ukrainian soldiers and are cut off from any sources of information. They blame Kiev’s troops for the shelling. An angry woman, who does not want to give her name, says: “It’s the Ukrainians who are bombing us. They don’t see us as human beings. They call us separatists.” An old man agrees: “They were our own people – the Ukrainians.”
Many residents of the primarily Russian-speaking Donbass coal region feel closer to Moscow than Kyiv. Officer Pochna is aware of the mood, but confirms: “The Ukrainian army is only defending itself.”
Meanwhile, the pounding of shelling can be heard almost continuously, the sustained thunder of Russian missile launch systems. Unless a miracle happens, the city will soon be completely destroyed, as will the neighboring city of Lysychansk.
The US Department of Defense expects Vladimir Putin to conquer larger parts of Ukraine after all – possibly even the entire country. Meanwhile, Russia is planning an escape corridor for trapped civilians. But this only leads to occupied areas.
Longtime commander of US troops in Europe Ben Hodges believes Russia will mount a final major offensive in Ukraine later this summer. If the west of Ukraine supplies everything it can with arms, it can be victorious, said the ex-general.
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