Separatists gain stranglehold over Debaltseve as evacuation continues

Armored personnel carriers and ammunition trucks continued to speed down the highway between Artyomovsk and Debaltseve, but with rockets already landing either side of the road, Ukrainian positions were dangerously close to being cut off.

“Vuhlehirsk is under the partial control of terrorists,” said Semen Semchenko, commander of the pro-Ukrainian Donbas Battalion. “We retain some of our strong points. A terrorist attack occurred yesterday, after artillery fire struck tanks at the positions of our forces. Over the past few weeks this group of terrorists had infiltrated into the city disguised as civilians and [we were] hit from the rear. In Vuhlehirsk there are enemy armored vehicles, sniper nests in people’s homes, the city is actively being reinforced.”

With Russian-supplied artillery able to hit targets up to 30 kilometers away, the rebels can use Vuhlehirsk to pour fire on a large stretch of the main road. Residents of Debaltseve were hurrying to evacuate the city as the shelling intensified, with another seven people killed today when a rocket hit an apartment block. 

Tearful families broke cover and ran for evacuation buses as rockets fell just 500 meters away, with those staying behind huddled in the city hall, charging their phones from an army generator that provides the town’s only electricity supply. 

A single mother, Anna, 29, and her son Yaroslav, 3, were among around 100 people who had been waiting since morning for government-sponsored buses to take them out of the city. “It’s terrible here, shooting all the time. The child is afraid, but we have asthma, so we can’t be in the basement,” she said, unwilling to give her last name for fear of reprisal. 

Carrying just a few plastic carrier bags, Anna had no idea what the future holds. 

“We took only our most important things. Where to go? We don’t know where. Wherever! The main thing is to get far, far away from here. I don’t have relatives, I don’t know what I will do.” 

Just three buses are ferrying civilians out of the conflict zone each day, with the first set of buses, prioritizing children and disabled people, leaving last night. But heartbreakingly, the result is that many are parents are now separated from their children, held hostage by shells from Russian-backed forces raking along the road out of the city. 

“We couldn’t get to our children,” wept Elena Fedorovna as she waited desperately for the next set of buses.  

“We tried to get to the place where they are, but had to come back after reaching half way because they started shooting. Last night we had to spend the whole night in the basement.” 

Although none of the buses were hit, dozens of fresh rocket craters were visible either side of the road out of Debaltseve and the terrifying sound of incoming rockets was near constant inside the city, once populated by some 25,000 people and now reduced to a few thousand.

 A handful of people were reluctant to leave, however.

 “I don’t want to evacuate,” said Alexandr Vladimirovich as he collected a loaf from the government’s daily bread delivery. “I was born in this city, grew up here, I was a locksmith and then Mayor, now I am retired. 

“We evacuated my grandson, my daughter, but me and my wife decided to stay. It’s very scary. Only fools are not afraid. But I built the town church, I hope that the Lord will take this into account and be gracious.” 

Those left behind have now gone more than a week in freezing temperatures without electricity, water or heating. Food is increasingly scarce and residents have come to rely on the town’s administration for handouts of bread and water.

As evacuees left their homes and boarded buses, some expressed hope that Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko would resolve the escalating conflict, while others vilified him and the government in Kyiv. 

There was widespread agreement with one Elena Sergeeva however, when she explained: 

“Most of all we want peace. We want to return our children and grandchildren, we want to live in our houses, and on our land. 

“We don’t care under what flag or with whom, we do not care, as long as they stop shooting.”

Editor’s Note: This article has been produced with support from www.mymedia.org.ua, financially supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, and implemented by a joint venture between NIRAS and BBC Media Action. Content is independent of the financial donor.