Artillery destroys Severodonetsk, the epicenter of the war in Ukraine

At the epicenter of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, civilians can’t let their guard down. Tamara Nesterenko prepares a soup at the door of her house but she suddenly takes the saucepan from her and runs to hide in the basement to escape the mortars that fall non-stop on Severodonetsk.

Artillery fire leaves a gaping hole in a building near his home in Severodonetsk. Brick chunks begin to fall in a backyard that connects several war-torn buildings.

LOOK: Mariupol Falls Near Azovstal Steelworks: Which Direction Will the War Take Now?

The hail of shells shatters car windshields and canopies before mercifully coming to a halt. A handful of brave neighbors poke their heads through the metal door of the building to check if it is safe to continue cooking.

But then another mortar explodes with a loud bang in more or less the same place. Then another. And then a series of shells are hitting every few seconds in this residential district of Severodonetsk, an industrial city turned into a devastated battlefield after almost three months of Russian invasion.

LOOK: The end of the Mariupol battle gives Putin his main military victory in Ukraine

“It’s been like this for four or five days”says teacher Tamara Nesterenko, cautiously returning to the wood stove that serves as a makeshift kitchen in this ghostly town that has been without water, gas or electricity for weeks.

Three saucepans simmer with soup and potatoes for the 27 neighbors who have been living in the dark underground for almost the entire last month.

A man sits next to his horse during a mortar shelling near Severodonetsk, eastern Ukraine, on May 18, 2022. (Yasuyoshi CHIBA / AFP)

“We don’t even know who is shooting or from where,” says the 55-year-old. “It’s like they’re playing,” she adds.

moans and prayers

The few remaining inhabitants of one of the main centers of chemical production in eastern Ukraineonce a city of 100,000 residents rebuilt from the ashes by the Soviets after World War II, are afraid to take a few steps from their front door.

LOOK: Russian soldier pleaded guilty in Ukraine’s first war crimes trial

Tanks with their cannons blazing blaze through rubble-strewn streets, slewing their turrets at anything that moves.

Scared-faced soldiers patrolling the city’s checkpoints open fire on cars that don’t slow down in time.

In the eastern districts, where the fiercest battles are fought, artillery shells explode without warning because they are fired at such close range.

Those who launch from further afield emit a rippling whistle as they draw a parabola above this city in a permanent state of war.

Nella Kashkina sits in the basement next to an oil lamp and prays.

“I don’t know how long we can last”says the former municipal official, 65 years old. “We have no medicine left and many sick people, sick women, need medicine. There just isn’t any medicine left,” she states.

A man takes his horse during a shelling in Severodonetsk, eastern Ukraine, on May 18, 2022. (Yasuyoshi CHIBA / AFP)

“You run and hide”

The flickering flames of wood stoves betray the only signs of civilian life in the new epicenter of the Russian assault on the former Soviet republic, now an ally of Western countries.

Severodonetsk and its twin city of Lysychansk are the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in Lugansk, the smaller of the two regions that comprise the Donbas mining basin, a priority target for Moscow.

Russian forces have surrounded the two cities, separated by a river that marks the main front of the war, and are constantly shelling them in an apparent effort to wear down their resistance and starve them of supplies.

Lysychansk still has a road to the southwest that Ukrainian forces use to send reinforcements and humanitarian aid.

Severodonetsk’s only connection to the territory controlled by kyiv is a bridge with Lysychansk that neither side seems willing to destroy, unlike what happened with the others in the area.

This infrastructure allows the inhabitants of Lysychansk to send trucks with water that their neighbors in Severodonetsk can collect at specific meeting points.

“There’s always a long queue for water… Can you imagine waiting outside under this fire?” says retired doctor Anna Poladiuk.

“You just run and hide, run and hide.”

“I’m going to die here”

Klaudia Pushnir sobs quietly as she remembers her youth huddled next to the mattress in the basement.

The 88-year-old was sent to Lysychansk as a student to help build a vibrant new city that could be an example of Soviet power in its rivalry with the West after World War II.

“We felt like we were building something new. There was so much joy in the city. So many young people. We get apartments for helping to build the city,” she recalls with a hint of a smile.

“Now my children’s apartment is trashed, my apartment is trashed and the whole city is suffering,” she laments.

The golden glow of the lamp draws the silhouettes of people covered in blankets in the corners of the room.

One extends a comforting hand over the old woman’s back. Outside, an explosion once again shakes the dark basement rooms.

“We are sitting here not knowing what is going to happen. But me, I’m probably going to die here, ”says Klaudia, who breaks down again in tears.

Source: Elcomercio