By Katie Stallard, Moscow Correspondent, in Donetsk
As the fighting in eastern Ukraine intensifies, humanitarian conditions in the region are deteriorating.
Sky News filmed families in the rebel-controlled capital of Donetsk, as it was revealed the European Union has extended its first set of sanctions against the separatists and Russia, which has been accused of aiding the rebellion.
Some of the families in Donetsk have been living in underground shelters since July, too frightened to let their children play outside or go to school.
Two hundred people, including more than 50 children, are living in the basement of an arts centre in the city's western suburb - afraid to allow the children above ground for more than a few minutes at a time.
One eight-year-old girl said she couldn't remember when she last played outside.
"If they go out it's only for five minutes maximum," her mother, Vika Makeeva, told us.
"To get fresh air and come back."
They said the school had been shelled and it had no basement shelter so the children hadn't been since December.
UNICEF has provided them with hygiene kits, and individuals have donated food and toys for the children.
"They started to shell us from the Ukrainian side," Luba, one of the mothers, said.
"I took the child when he was asleep in his blanket, put him on a bike and we went to a shelter in the children's hospital, but it was really damp, with frogs, and then we came here."
Many of the residents have homes, but they are too frightened to return.
We went with one lady to check on her flat - she told us their block was shelled four days ago, and their roof destroyed.
As she led us across the courtyard she heard outgoing rocket fire and hurried behind a concrete wall, listening for the sound of the impact so she could work out which direction it was heading.
She said this was why she was afraid to bring her children outside.
In the city centre we saw long queues of people, the majority of them pensioners, outside an aid distribution point.
It was bitterly cold and there was thick ice on the ground, but they had been waiting patiently since 8am for handouts donated by Ukraine's richest man, Rinat Akhmetov.
The Ukrainian government has cut off pensions and other social payments to those living in rebel-controlled areas like Donetsk.
There is food in the shops, but many have no money to buy it, and so find themselves dependent on donations.
"For six months we have had no pension," one elderly woman told us.
"We have no salaries, no pensions, that's it so we're queuing for help."
"This is how we live," her husband added.
"Waiting for the humanitarian aid, thanks that they are helping us."
Pavel Gudchok worked for a Ukrainian bank, but they closed the branches in Donetsk last year and now he can't find a job.
He was visibly shivering as he waited to help his grandmother at the aid point.
"There's no money here, people are hungry here, without homes," the 24-year-old said.
"They need everything now."
The longer this goes on, the more attitudes here are hardening, the stronger the anger with Kiev - and the deeper the divisions in this already bitterly divided country.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Ukraine: Daily Struggle On Conflict's Frontline
Dengan url
http://juarapageone.blogspot.com/2015/01/ukraine-daily-struggle-on-conflicts.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Ukraine: Daily Struggle On Conflict's Frontline
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Ukraine: Daily Struggle On Conflict's Frontline
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar