UKRAINE: Residents of Slaviansk evacuate children as violence in eastern Ukraine continues

Record ID: 174221

  • Title: UKRAINE: Residents of Slaviansk evacuate children as violence in eastern Ukraine continues
  • Date: 7th June 2014
  • Summary: SLAVIANSK, UKRAINE (JUNE 7, 2014) (REUTERS) BARRICADES ON STREET PAN FROM STREET TO CROWD OF PEOPLE NEAR VANS WOMEN STANDING IN FRONT OF VANS SIGN READING IN UKRAINIAN 'RED CROSS SOCIETY OF UKRAINE' VARIOUS OF LITTLE GIRL AND PARENTS GIRL IN WINDOW OF VAN VARIOUS OF SLAVIANSK RESIDENT, ANDREI, HUGGING HIS DAUGHTER GIRL LOOKING OVER SEAT IN VAN (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) SLAVIANSK RESIDENT, ANDREI, SAYING: "It is very scary here, there are artillery barrage and shooting all the time and I take [my family] away because of the life threat." SLAVIANSK RESIDENT, IGOR, HUGGING LITTLE GIRL RED CROSS STICKER ON VAN (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) SLAVIANSK RESIDENT, IGOR, SAYING: "I think there should be talks otherwise it is impossible to solve without force. Many people will be killed, this hundred-thousand-person-city if it is vanished from the earth. I think this should not be happening." VARIOUS OF LITTLE GIRL IN WINDOW OF VAN VANS LINED UP SIGN READING IN RUSSIAN 'CHILDREN' VARIOUS OF CHILDREN IN BUS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) SLAVIANSK TEENAGER, IGOR, SAYING: "I am lost at the moment. I have graduated from the school and have no place to go to continue my education. I don't know where to go to study, everything is bombed out, the shells are permanently damaging different buildings everyday. No one knows what is happening. They say the food will be finished soon. That is why we are being evacuated." (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) SLAVIANSK TEENAGER, ANASTASIA, SAYING: "Everybody is scared, my parents are afraid, and I sort of got used to that." (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) SLAVIANSK TEENAGER, DARIA, SAYING: "It is scary, I live on the ninth floor. It's scary when it bangs in the courtyard." VARIOUS OF VANS DRIVING AWAY
  • Embargoed: 22nd June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6W8VTC5GIC525BK030ZQ2FL4T
  • Story Text: Fighting continued around Slaviansk on Saturday (June 7) and smoke could be seen rising above the surrounding forests.
    Using a short negotiated ceasefire between pro-Russian separatist militants and Ukrainian armed forces a group of the residents of Slaviansk, women and children, were prepared to leave the city.

    "It is very scary here, there are artillery barrage and shooting all the time and I take [my family] away because of the life threat," said Andrei, resident of Slaviansk.
    With the help of NGO called "Our city" from the Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhya some 120 people were evacuated from the city, as fighting rumbled on in the east of the country.

    "Everybody is scared, my parents are afraid, and I sort of got used to that," said Anastasia, teenager from Slaviansk as her class mate Daria added, "It is scary, I live on the ninth floor. It's scary when it bangs in the courtyard."
    Since Petro Poroshenko's election as the new country's president on May 25, government forces have stepped up what they call an 'anti-terrorist' campaign against the Russian-speaking separatists in the east.
    The rebels have fought back, turning parts of the east into a war zone. On Friday they shot down a Ukrainian army plane and killed a member of the interior ministry's special forces in the separatist stronghold of Slaviansk.
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