We have seen again and again since the start of the war in Ukraine. But it does not get easier. In Donbas, Russian troops are attacking cities, towns and villages, while the Ukrainian army is trying to hold its own. Read more: Zelenskyy says Donbas’s fate depends on ‘violent’ war in Severodonetsk – as ‘endless death caravan’ unveiled in Mariupol Thousands upon thousands of people are still alive as the war draws to a close. But when conditions become unbearable, when their homes are destroyed or uninhabitable, people leave reluctantly, carrying what they can from their past lives. They end up at the station, in the queue, trying to escape by express at 16.30 from Pokrovsk in the Donbas area. Picture: People arrive at a station in eastern Ukraine Many of those we meet endure for months. But as heavy artillery and street battles get worse, especially in Sheverodonetsk and Lysyhansk, they say they just can no longer stand it. The volunteers carefully transport people with disabilities and people with disabilities to small elevators attached to the side of the train carriages. Picture: A woman is loaded on a train at a station in eastern Ukraine Most will never return They are lifted into the arms of the railway staff waiting and transported inside. Doctors check that it is okay before moving on to the next possible patient. These people will probably never return after a life in the East – a life inextricably linked to Russia. Most speak only Russian and many of their families are Russian. Image: An elderly woman is one of those forced to leave by train from eastern Ukraine Image: A woman transported to a station in eastern Ukraine by ambulance Before the war, many crossed the border between the two countries. They are now being forced into a new life in the west of the country where most people speak a foreign language, Ukrainian. You can see their hearts cracked. We meet for the first time 76-year-old Kateryna Bednenko in the back of an ambulance parked on the platform. Picture: Katerina and Mykola waiting for a train to take them away from eastern Ukraine She has had a stroke and is now immobile. As fighting in Lysychansk intensified, she and Mykola’s husband had to wait to be rescued. He tells us that this is the first time they have been out since February. Once at this train station it was a mission for 78-year-old Valentyna Volochkova. Picture: Valentyna Volochkova had a hard time getting to the station She went to the market near her house, came under fire and then completely abandoned going home. He just kept walking, two and a half kilometers, and took the first taxi out. She left her life behind but has not regretted it. Picture: Families walking to board a train at a station in eastern Ukraine “What should I expect?” Currently [my house] was it ruined with me inside? So, I gathered all my courage, went out and raised my hands to show that I was leaving “, he told me sitting in the train car and waiting for him to leave. In a carriage for families with children we meet Ludmila. This is a walk that she and her son do not want to take. They do not want to leave their home. “Do I have another choice? How do I keep my child there when all his classmates have already left?” she asks. Picture: A family arrives at a car park in eastern Ukraine She feels she has to do this, if not for herself, for her son. “Tell me, please, what would you do if you were in my place? Would you stay home? All the windows were broken and the glass was thrown out …” then she begins to cry, almost ashamed of her tears. “What, what would you do?” She asks once again, her 11-year-old son sitting quietly next to her and listening to her. “We have been working on everything we have for 30 years. We were building the house and finally we finished it …” There is no sign of abandonment in this war. And those who came here were faithful to the security and support promised by the West – security and support that was delayed.
