UKRAINE: Slaviansk residents wake up to sounds of artillery, damaged homes

Record ID: 695214

  • Title: UKRAINE: Slaviansk residents wake up to sounds of artillery, damaged homes
  • Date: 23rd May 2014
  • Summary: SLAVIANSK, UKRAINE (MAY 23, 2014) (REUTERS) WIDE OF SLAVIANSK AT DAWN, GUN FIRE AUDIBLE
  • Embargoed: 7th June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2AAEP5RZOVVQZFJ4HBX3F21BR
  • Story Text: Residents in eastern Ukraine's Slaviansk were shaken after another night of shelling and violence as pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian forces took aim at one another.
    On Friday (May 23) morning, burned out homes and debris from shelling could be seen in parts of the city.
    Local Vladimir Lisitsky looked at the gaping holes in his home where windows once were and asked, "How it is (possible) not to be afraid? It is scary, during the war [World War Two] it was not the same?"
    As they looked around in the early hours, Lisitsky and others saw flames still burning and destroyed power lines amidst the tyre barricades that rebel forces have erected.
    Some have lost more than just their homes. Svetlana Nochkina said her husband had been abducted.
    "They have abducted my husband, directly from the house. Four armed men came in camouflage uniforms," she said standing in front of the local security authority building that was seized by pro-Russian forces.
    Nochkina said she was not sure why her husband had been targeted.
    "I don't know. We aren't that rich. We basically hold a neutral political position - not these or those authorities. It's our personal opinion. Maybe they didn't like that," she said.
    Kiev hopes the May 25 presidential election will help usher in stability in Ukraine.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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