In this convoy crossed on the road to Zaporizhie, civilians who managed to flee the occupied city of Berdiansk, 80 km west of Mariupol. According to the Ukrainian authorities, more than 3,000 people have tried their luck in buses and private cars. They hung white rags on the doors and stuck a sheet on their windshield that says “Children” in Cyrillic characters.
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These civilians could not be evacuated by the Red Cross which is trying, after an initial failure, to organize a new evacuation on Saturday 2 April. They are in a hurry to move away from the zone occupied by the Russians. But Yana, a young blond woman, sweatshirt and black pants, agrees to get out of the van to tell us about their journey: 17 roadblocks held by the Russians that had to be crossed. “At each of these checkpoints, they checked us. They search the suitcases, they check the computers, our phones”, she says.
“All the men are forced to undress to check if they have pro-Ukrainian tattoos.”
Yana, a Ukrainian who fled Berdyanskat franceinfo
“Betriansk and Zaporijjie is a 200 kilometer road. Normally we do it in 3 hours but here it took 2 days”, continues Yana. Some were stripped, not her. She finds the strength now to smile. “We were lucky, they didn’t take our phones or our computers. But to tell you… the 2nd army in the world! At each checkpoint they asked us for tea or sparkling water and at the last, they said to us: ‘Give us 150 hrivnia'”. 150 hrivnia is a little less than 5 euros.
The decision to leave was not easy, but when the Chechens arrived in Berdyansk, Russian passports were distributed, the ruble was put into circulation. This was the signal. Maxime had to abandon his land, where he grows wheat, sunflower and peas. It had become too risky. At first, he demonstrated daily against the occupiers. “The first days, there were really many of us and the Russians weren’t that many and they were watching us from afar.he recalls.
“But every day there were fewer and fewer protesters, and more and more Russian soldiers.”
Maxime, a Ukrainian farmerat franceinfo
“One day, they kidnapped one of the speakers, who was organizing the demonstrations. They kept him for at least a week. Then they kidnapped two others from their home. And there were even fewer of us who protested. The last demonstration the troops of the Russian national guard arrived, they used their weapons.” Maxime’s story is chilling. He explains that he quickly gathered some things. But like the other occupants of his minibus who raise their fists as they leave us, he has no doubt, they will return very quickly to liberated Berdiansk.