Odisha News, Odisha Latest news, Odisha Daily - OrissaPOST
  • Home
  • State
  • Metro
  • National
  • International
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Feature
  • Timeout
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Sci-Tech
  • Others
    • COVID-19
    • Today’s Pic
  • Home
  • State
  • Metro
  • National
  • International
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Feature
  • Timeout
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Sci-Tech
  • Others
    • COVID-19
    • Today’s Pic
No Result
View All Result
OrissaPOST - Odisha Latest news, English Daily -
No Result
View All Result

‘Our roots are there’: Ukrainians cross front line for home

AP
Updated: May 1st, 2022, 09:40 IST
in International
0
Refugees

Photo courtesy: npr.org

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on WhatsAppShare on Linkedin

Zaporizhzhia (Ukraine): A tiny, Soviet-made car is bed tonight for the older couple waiting to risk their lives by crossing the war’s front line in Ukraine. But they’re not fleeing — they’re going back in.

“Everything is there. Our roots are there,” says the man, 75. “Even people from Mariupol want to go back.”

They don’t want to share their names out of fears for their safety as they attempt to make the long drive back to the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, the scene of some of the war’s fiercest fighting.

The world is now accustomed to images of millions of Ukrainians on the run from Russia’s invasion. In their shadow are people with a different kind of desperation and daring, heading the other way.

For some the pull is to reach loved ones, often vulnerable due to illness or infirmity, who were left behind. For others it’s a journey of nostalgia and defiance.

The couple want to go back to their home in Donetsk to take a look at least. They’re old. They’re homesick. It’s time to take chances. “Where else should we go?” the man says.

He leans against the boxy yellow Lada, resting his weight on the 40-year-old car and on two canes. His belongings are whatever his wife stuffed into the trunk before they fled.

“She forgot to bring her lover,” the man says, with mischief in his eyes. His wife of 53 years laughs, then comes close to tears as reality returns.

“You can go mad if you don’t make jokes,” she says.

Recent weeks have seen many Ukrainians who fled the country return home, but in many cases that’s because Russian forces withdrew from the area around the capital, Kyiv, regrouping for an offensive in the east.

It’s not known how many people have crossed the front lines to return to contested areas and occupied cities.

Here in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia is a parking lot where volunteers have helped thousands of people fleeing in battered vehicles.

Some have shattered windows. Others are missing doors. Many have signs saying “children” taped to their windshields.

On the edges of this are people headed in the other direction.

One is Igor Filko, who stands alone on the sidewalk, smoking. The 30-year-old was released on Wednesday after three years in prison, emerging into a world he hardly recognised.

“Everything is different,” he says. “Everything is wrong.”

He is trying to make his way to the seaside city of Berdyansk and his wife, small child and mother. He sleeps at the train station. He has no phone, borrowing one from a volunteer at the reception centre to call his family. He has no car, little money and a growing sense of just how dangerous it is to go home.

After his release, he tried to set off on foot but was quickly stopped at a checkpoint. Soldiers told him he wouldn’t be let out walking and certainly wouldn’t be let back in. Now he waits for a corridor to open.

Russian forces are tightening their control over Berdyansk, Filko says. They tell residents they should switch to Russian passports and the currency will change to the ruble soon. His family wants to leave. He wants to help them.

“I don’t know of another plan,” Filko says. “All my hopes are on getting at least my child out.”

Each family reaching the reception centre has its own harrowing story supporting that desire to flee.

Tatyana Vasileva’s vehicle was shot at near the final checkpoint on the journey from occupied Melitopol, in the southeast. A shell flew over their roof, and Russian soldiers stole her money.

“Thank God we left before it got too bad,” Vasileva says.

Many of the new arrivals are from the southern city of Kherson, where Russian flags now fly.

Vitaly Bizyuk and his family drove three days to find an open corridor from there to Zaporizhzhia.

Along the way, they were pressured at Russian checkpoints to change their mind. Bizyuk is originally from Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. “They asked me, Why not go there?’” he says. “I said, Why, what did I forget there?’”

Disheveled and standing next to his dust-covered car, he describes life under occupation. The ruble will be introduced on Sunday. Tanks are in the streets. The channels on TV, and the brands in markets, are Russian.

Bizyuk holds up a pack of Russian cigarettes and looks unhappy: “I needed to smoke.”

Over two months into the war, he also needed to get out. Unlike the couple in the Lada, he sees no return in sight.

AP

Tags: refugeeukrainewar
ShareTweetSendShare
Suggest A Correction

Enter your email to get our daily news in your inbox.

Related Posts

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson

UK PM race: Liz Truss holds lead but voters still prefer Boris Johnson

August 19, 2022
S Jaishankar

India-China relationship going through ‘extremely difficult phase’: EAM Jaishankar

August 18, 2022
China renews war threats as Taiwan launches its military exercises Beijing: China Thursday renewed its threat to attack Taiwan following almost a week of war games near the island. Taiwan has called Beijing's claims to the self-governing democracy “wishful thinking" and launched its own military exercises. Taiwan's “collusion with external forces to seek independence and provocation will only accelerate their own demise and push Taiwan into the abyss of disaster,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily briefing. “Their pursuit of Taiwan independence will never succeed, and any attempt to sell the national interest will be met with a complete failure," Wang told reporters. China's attempt to intimidate the Taiwanese public and advertise its strategy for blockading and potentially invading the island was nominally prompted by a visit to Taipei last week by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The US, Japan and allies have denounced the exercises, with the Group of Seven industrialised nations issuing a statement at a recent meeting expressing its concern. On Wednesday, Britain's government summoned Chinese Ambassador Zheng Zeguang to the Foreign Office to demand an explanation of "Beijing's aggressive and wide-ranging escalation against Taiwan”. Taiwan says Beijing used Pelosi's visit as a pretext to raise the stakes in its feud with Taipei, firing missiles into the Taiwan Strait and over the island into the Pacific Ocean. China also sent planes and ships across the midline in the strait that has long been a buffer between the sides, which separated amid civil war in 1949. In a lengthy policy statement on Taiwan issued Wednesday, China distorted the historical record, including the United Nations' 1972 resolution that transferred the China seat on the Security Council from Beijing to Taipei, Taiwan's Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council said. The Chinese statement also discarded a pledge not to send troops or government officials to Taiwan that was contained in previous statements. The UN resolution makes no mention of Taiwan's status, although China regards it as a foundational document proclaiming the Communist Party's right to control over the island. The Taiwanese council's statement said China was orchestrating its moves against Taiwan ahead of the ruling Communist Party's 20th National Congress to be held later this year. President and party leader Xi Jinping is expected to receive a third five-year term at the conclave, after leading a relentless crackdown on political figures accused of corruption, human rights activists and civil society groups. Xi's suppression of free speech and political opposition in Hong Kong was also seen as a factor behind Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen winning a second term in 2020. China says it plans to annex Taiwan under the now widely discredited “one country, two systems" format applied in Hong Kong. The concept has been thoroughly rejected in Taiwanese public opinion polls in which respondents have overwhelmingly favoured the status-quo of de-facto independence. The Chinese statement is “full of wishful thinking, and ignores the facts," the Mainland Affairs Council said in its press release. The “crude and clumsy political operations by the Beijing authorities further highlight its arrogant thinking pattern of attempting to use force to invade and destroy the Taiwan Strait and regional peace," the release said. “The authorities in Beijing deceive themselves. We warn the Beijing authorities to immediately stop threatening Taiwan with force and spreading false information," it said. Taiwan placed its military under high alert during the Chinese drills but took no direct countermeasures. It held artillery drills off its southwestern coast facing China that ran through Thursday, illustrating the challenges the People's Liberation Army would face were it to launch an invasion across the strait. AP China, Taiwan

US to hold trade talks with Taiwan, island drills military

August 18, 2022

16 dead, 36 missing after flash flooding in China

August 18, 2022

At least 21 killed, 33 injured in Kabul mosque blast

August 18, 2022
Ukraine Crisis - Russian shelling kills 6 in Ukraine's Kharkiv

Russian shelling kills 6 in Ukraine’s Kharkiv

August 18, 2022

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

OrissaPOST epaper Sunday POST OrissaPOST epaper

Click Here: Plastic Free Odisha

Plastic Free Odisha

Darsheel Safary, Actor

Darsheel Safary calls for a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you support the movement? *Visit our website www.orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page ...

August 29, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Arindam Roy, Actor

Arindam Roy supports call for a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you support the movement? *Visit our website www.orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook ...

August 29, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Members of All Ride Bicycle

Members of All Ride Bicycle supports a plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Nayagarh Girls’ High School

Nayagarh Girls’ High School students support a plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page ...

October 2, 2018
Covaxin
Christmas

Bharat Biotech rubbishes criticism, says its vaccine is safe    

New Delhi/Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech rejected Monday criticism over the grant of emergency use authorisation by India’s drug regulator to ...

January 5, 2021
Plastic Free Odisha

High school students of Sambalpur district

High school students of Sambalpur district support plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Gandhi Science Higher Secondary School in Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar

Gandhi Science Higher Secondary School students of Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar support a plastic free Odisha. Do you?   *Visit our website ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Akash Dasnayak, Actor

Akash Dasnayak, Actor supports a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) *Post your ...

August 30, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Sudarsan Pattnaik,Sand Artist

Sudarsan Pattnaik support a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you?  *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) *Post your Photos/Selfie ...

August 30, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Gandhi College Plus III science students of Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar

Gandhi Plus III science students of Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar support a plastic free Odisha. Do you?   *Visit our website orissapost.com. ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Scoutmaster, Guide Captains, Rovers, and Rangers of Keonjhar

Scoutmaster, Guide Captains, Rovers, and Rangers of Keonjhar support a plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Deepak Kumar-Actor

Deepak Kumar support a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you support the movement? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page ...

August 30, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Samanta Singhara Nodal High School students

Samanta Singhara Nodal High School students of Balia, Jajpur support plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Balibil Nodal School students

Balibil Nodal School students support plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) *Post ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Actor Sritam Das

Actor Sritam Das supports a plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) *Post ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Miteish Khimji,Entrepreneur

Miteish Khimji supports a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) *Post your ...

August 30, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Students of Tulasipur Saraswati Sishu Vidya Mandir, Cuttack

Students of Tulasipur Saraswati Sishu Vidya Mandir, Cuttack call for a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you support the movement? *Visit our ...

August 29, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

D.A.V Public School-Kalinga Nagar

D.A.V Public School Students, support Plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) *Post ...

August 30, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Kalamatia Sahid Bidyapitha students

Kalamatia Sahid Bidyapitha students support plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) *Post ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Puri SCS College Students

Puri SCS College Students support a plastic free odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) ...

August 30, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Ratikant Mohapatra,Odissi Dance Director

Ratikant Mohapatra support a plastic free odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) *Post your ...

August 30, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

BJB Autonomous College-Bhubaneswar

BJB Autonomous college students support a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) ...

August 30, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Bridge school students

Bridge school students support plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) *Post your ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

IMT Pharmacy College-Puri

IMT Pharmacy College students call for a Plastic Free Odisha. Have You Joined the movement? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend ...

August 30, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Govinda Poddar-Odisha Ranji Team Captain

Govinda Poddar, Odisha Ranji Team Captain  calls for a Plastic Free Odisha. Have You Joined the movement? *Visit our website ...

August 30, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Utkal University Journalism Department Students

Utkal University Journalism Department students call for a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you support the movement? *Visit our website www.orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend ...

August 29, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Haratiya Bidyaniketan School students

Haratiya Bidyaniketan School students of Alipur, Bari support a plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Elina Samantray, Actress

Elina Samantray calls for a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you support the movement? *Visit our website www.orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page ...

August 29, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Unit III Bharat Scouts and Guide

Unit III Bharat Scouts and Guides team call for a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you support the movement? *Visit our website ...

August 29, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Valena Valentina-Karate Player

Karate player Valena Valentina calls for a Plastic Free Odisha. Have You Joined the movement? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend ...

August 30, 2018

Archives

Editorial

Bystanders No More

A woman holds the hands of her malnourished daughter inside a medical tent last year in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia. (Ben Curtis / Associated Press via news.yahoo.com)
August 18, 2022

In March 1964, the New York Times reported that 38 witnesses saw or heard a brutal, drawn-out, and ultimately fatal...

Read more

Fearless Disrespect

File photo of Salman Rushdie
August 17, 2022

Salman Rushdie had once said – Respect for religion has become a code phrase meaning ‘fear of religion.’ Religions, like...

Read more

Pursuit of Independence

August 15, 2022

Celebrating the 75th year of Independence and naming it Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and later the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign...

Read more

Things to Consider

August 14, 2022

The four stages of life, according to some of our Hindu texts, are brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha and sanyasa. These are...

Read more
  • Home
  • State
  • Metro
  • National
  • International
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Feature
  • Sports
  • Sci-Tech
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Career
Developed By Ratna Technology

© 2020 All rights Reserved by OrissaPOST

  • Home
  • Metro
  • State
  • National
  • International
  • IPL
  • Sports
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Feature
  • Opinion
  • Sci-Tech
  • COVID-19
  • Today’s Pic
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Career
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

© 2020 All rights Reserved by OrissaPOST