230 kilometers, cloistered in a crowded mini-bus, which hardly advances. After three nights spent in traffic jams, in an uninterrupted flow of vehicles stopped for several hours at each Russian and then Ukrainian crossing point, Jana finally arrived in Zaporijjia. “It’s very hard, it’s very long. It’s hotblows the woman from Mariupol. And the road is in very bad condition.”
The majority of the inhabitants of Mariupol and its region flock to Zaporijjia, the gateway to Ukraine for those who live on the Russian side. Some are definitely fleeing the area, others are simply passing through on the Ukrainian side, to buy goods that are inaccessible at home or to seek treatment. They are nearly a thousand every day to land in this city in southern Ukraine.
Jana left behind her three children, her house and her goats. For her, there is no question of fleeing the Russian zone or rebuilding her life. She plans to return to Mariupol in three to four weeks. “I had pneumonia so I come for medical tests and some shopping. On the other hand, the medicine is not good and I do not trust the analysis laboratoriesexplains the mother. We stayed in Mariupol during the fighting, we are not going to leave now when the situation is calmer. My whole family is there. Where do you want me to go? Then school in Russian is easier for my children… Before, in Ukraine, they insisted that we learn Ukrainian and I didn’t like that. We have been ‘Ukrainized’.”
“I have a Ukrainian passport but here we all speak Russian. How do you want me to choose? I’m Slavic, that’s how it is.”
Jana, resident of Mariupol passing through Zaporijjiaat franceinfo
Unlike Jana, 80% of crossings to Zaporizhia are final. Often the exiles waited for the summer to give up everything. They preferred to take the time to organize themselves and start their life over on the Ukrainian side.
The remaining 20% eventually come back. “Most people go back there to pick up their families.develops Denis Kniche, coordinator of the last reception center in Zaporijjia. There are also people, but it was rather at the beginning, who go there to leave more easily for Europe via Russia. They are mostly men of military age who are not allowed to leave Ukraine. Then there are transporters who trade and circulate on both sides.”
The Ukrainian authorities are very vigilant. To return to the Russian side, you have to register on a list and then wait between three weeks and a month, the time of the checks.
From Mariupol to Zaporijjia: report by Thibault Lefèvre and Eric Audra
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