In Ukraine, the noose is still tightening around Bakhmout. The civilians then rush into the last trains before the arrival of the Russians. Yuri, a single father, and his daughter waited until the last minute to flee.
In the car, the families are piled up. On the bench, Nastia, 9, fidgets. Before explaining: “The explosions were too strong”. By her side, Yuri, her dad, 45, with a sunken face, watches her child finally play on the seat of the train ready to evacuate them. “My daughter was very scared. A few days ago, she came running towards me, with big eyes, scared. I don’t know where the biological mother is, I’m the one taking care of the small for 3 yearshe says.
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Yuri and Nastia live near Bakhmout, this industrial city that has been the epicenter of fighting between Russians and Ukrainians for months, and whose strategic importance is disputed. Since the summer of 2022, this symbolic battle has led to great destruction, as well as heavy casualties on both sides. But despite the danger, faced with the Russian offensive of recent days, the father and his daughter have waited. If the family has not evacuated when the bombs fall two meters from their house, it is for fear that little Nastia will find herself alone. But they finally decided to board a train to evacuate the area.
Seated next to them: Anna, exhausted, emaciated, explains that she has no “no more tears“. She also apologizes: “We haven’t been able to wash for weeks.” She is Yuri’s mate, but has no rights to her daughter. “People were telling us: ‘No, don’t go, they will send Yuri to the front and the little one will be left alone. I am not her mother: Yuri is the only one to be recognized as a parent. I’m afraid, what is “What will happen to Nastia? I really don’t want him to go to the front. No, really, I don’t want him to be sent to the front!”
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Yuri also admits it: if he left the front line so late, it was because he was afraid of being separated from his child. He was convinced that by taking refuge in the west of the country, he would automatically be recruited by the army, and his daughter, consequently, abandoned.
“I am less afraid for myself than for my daughter. I was afraid that she would be sent to the orphanage.”
Fears aroused by Russian propaganda, which suggests that the Ukrainian army is forcibly enlisting men who flee the Donbass. However, in Ukraine, single fathers are not sent to the front.
Added to this anxiety was Yuri’s sense of duty: “I also had to work until the end to feed my family”. The fear of the bombs was finally the strongest. Propaganda and anxieties have endangered this family unnecessarily.