The inhabitants of the Donetsk region have known the horrors of war long before Vladimir Putin ordered the so-called “military operation” in Ukraine, more than two years ago. Beginning in 2014, Russia’s occupation of the Donbass after annexing Crimea has turned that border area into one of the bloodiest points of the conflict. War fatigue is inevitable.
The situation has become unsustainable, even more so, in Ocheretyne, especially since Russian forces took the city of Avdíyivka, located 15 kilometers to the north, at the beginning of the year. The intensified fighting in recent days in the small town between Kyiv and Moscow has pushed many families to flee in order to survive. This is the case of Lidia Stepanivna. Faced with the death and destruction that she saw around her, the almost centenarian grandmother – she is 98 years old – decided to leave her home.
Lidia made the decision together with her son and daughter-in-law after an unbearable morning. However, at the moment of leaving, in the middle of the bombings they ran and their paths separated. Completely alone, the old woman decided to move on. Supported by a stick and her cane, sleeping on the ground, without food or water, she traveled about ten kilometers on foot until some soldiers found her walking along a road, already on the Ukrainian side. The soldiers took her by car to a shelter so that she could be treated by the health services.
The story has been made known by the Ukrainian police through social networks. In a video Lidia explains the difficulties of the journey, including that she collapsed as a result of anxiety, but that her “character” kept her going. “I fell twice, but I caught my breath and little by little I got up and walked again,” she says.
“I survived that war (World War II) and I am surviving this one,” she explained on Monday sitting on a bed, where she appears dressed in a large coat, a scarf on her head and the wooden stick she still used during the journey. with him. Between the current war conflict and the most terrifying of the 20th century, women see differences. “Now they are burning houses and uprooting trees.”
The police managed to contact his family. Her granddaughter would pick her up the next day and take her to the city of Kostiantynivka. While waiting for family reunification, not even her harrowing experience has made him lose his sense of humor. “I’m 18 years old,” she joked when they asked her how old she was so she could tell it in front of the camera.
Meanwhile, the Russian military continues to make small gains in Donetsk Oblast. The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Monday that its forces had taken the town of Semenivka, very close to the almost century-old grandmother’s Ocheretyne partially occupied by Russia last weekend. “I was left with nothing, but I left my Ukraine on foot,” he says in a mixture of sadness and pride.
