“We believe that after the recognition of Russia, peaceful life will finally begin”
While Russian President Vladimir Putin was holding a meeting of the Security Council on the recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, in the Donbas shells exploded. In the evening, at about 20:00, the settlement of Aleksandrovsk, located on the outskirts of Luhansk, came under artillery fire from the Ukrainian armed formations. The MK correspondent visited the site of the terrible events and talked with the residents, who were miraculously lucky to survive.
The satellite town of Luhansk Aleksandrovsk is located just seven kilometers from the center of the capital. Private densely populated residential sector with narrow streets. People themselves are surprised how they managed to avoid victims. A young woman named Marina, a resident of one of the houses near which the shell exploded, tells about what happened.
— It all happened around 7:40 pm,” she shares, clearly still under the influence of a strong fright. – We were at home with the child, when we suddenly heard some pops, then a whistle and an explosion. Glass shattered and dust flew into the room. When everything calmed down a bit, I decided to go outside. There I already saw that all the windows were broken both at our place and at the neighbors. The roof was damaged, the slate fence was simply scattered around the garden.
Marina tells with horror that her nine-year-old son was in his room at the time of the explosion, the boy was simply covered with glass. He is still very scared. According to the woman, what peace is, they don’t remember since 2014, but in the last week the situation has worsened significantly. They began to shoot constantly.
Between the house of my interlocutor and the neighboring fence, a large funnel gapes in the ground. Representatives of the LPR are already working on the spot in the joint control and coordination center, who are removing the remains of an exploding shell from the ground.
Photo: Lina Korsak
As Senior Lieutenant Aleksey Getmansky explained, the shelling was carried out with 152 mm caliber shells prohibited under the terms of the Minsk agreements. Next to the officers is a gas service car, the employees have been restoring the gas pipeline damaged as a result of Ukrainian aggression since the night.
At the house opposite, a little old woman, wrapped in a scarf, watches everything that happens. All three windows in her house were also blown out by the blast. Grandmother wipes tears from her wrinkled face.
According to Lidia Sergeevna, this is the name of an elderly woman, she and her granddaughter were in the room in the evening, watching TV. When there was a terrible explosion, even the appliances in the house trembled.
– It's good that the electricians and the gas service quickly arrived. Well, the neighbor's gas broke through, hissing from the pipe, we were very scared.
– I am 82 years old, – Lydia Sergeevna answers, unable to hold back her tears. – I really don't want to leave my house.
– I really hope it gets better. And maybe, and vice versa, this morning it rumbled again. This is such a thing. But I want to believe it's better. Maybe Zelensky will be screwed a little.
Soboleva Maria, the granddaughter of Lydia Sergeevna, shared that she has been living in her hometown with her grandmother all her life & nbsp; and left her home only in the most terrible moments of 2014. Here she graduated from high school and went to college. There was a time when we lived for several days even without light, we had to learn lessons with a candle. But we always tried to think that all this would end and life would be the same. Peaceful.
– You know, it's very scary, but for some reason you always think that it won't affect you personally. And yesterday, when it all started, we were very scared. Glass flew, slate crumbled. We hid in the house, my grandmother wanted to go to the basement, but I told her: “They will fall asleep there and no one will find us, but here at least they can save us.” Then they came out and saw that everything was broken. Both ours and our neighbors. It's a pity, of course, but it's all nonsense & nbsp; in fact. The main thing is that everyone is alive. Material and human life are incompatible things. But, I confess, I was afraid all night that they might still shoot and now they would hit.
– We will restore it. If you are talking about whether we will leave after this or not, then of course not. As we lived, so we will live here. We really believe that after recognition by Russia will finally begin a peaceful life.