- Title: UKRAINE: Residents flee Donetsk, taking train to Moscow
- Date: 10th August 2014
- Summary: DONETSK, UKRAINE (AUGUST 10, 2014) (REUTERS) DONETSK TRAIN STATION EXTERIOR DONETSK TRAIN STATION INTERIOR PEOPLE ON PLATFORM CHILD PEOPLE BESIDE TRAIN (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ELENA FROLOVA, DONETSK RESIDENT, SAYING: "It is impossible to live (here). There is no electricity, no water. And there is shelling every day. How can we live this way? (Question off camera: Do you h
- Embargoed: 25th August 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Ukraine
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVAEGKJLYHP29J9INECXJ8YO4Q5T
- Story Text: As sound of shelling resonated through Donetsk train station scared residents were getting on train to Moscow on Sunday (August 10) to flee fighting in the city.
Donetsk, a once bustling metropolis of nearly one million people, is facing an increasing shortage of food, water and electricity. Few people are on the streets, though groups of armed separatist fighters can be seen, and few cars.
Most people are staying indoors or have left the city for the countryside. Most shops are closed but the municipal authorities said bakeries were still producing bread despite a lack of electricity. Fuel supplies had run out and few chemists are operating.
Banks are closed and pensions and social allowances are not being paid. There is no electricity or water supply in the most part of the city, residents say.
"It is impossible to live (here). There is no electricity, no water. And there is shelling every day. How can we live this way? (Question off camera: Do you have anywhere to go?) For now we have a place to go. We have relatives in Oryol. After that, I don't know what we are going to do," Elena Frolova, Donetsk resident said.
Donetsk, a major industrial hub in Ukraine's Russian-speaking east, resonated with the crash of shells on its outskirts for about eight hours up to mid-day on Sunday, as government forces tightened the noose around the rebel-held redoubt and called on pro-Russian separatists to surrender.
Talk of a ceasefire, a possibility raised by a separatist leader on Saturday, evaporated as Kiev government forces kept up an offensive to crush the rebels. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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