You're reading: Residents of Komsomolske pray for peace under crossfire

KOMSOMOLSKE, Ukraine -- Natalia Semeniuk, 14, had to flee her summer camp for orphans in the Donetsk Oblast town of Komsomolske along with other children on Aug. 28, when the shelling shattered all windows in the classroom.

“It was so scary,”
said the teenager, who looks much smaller than children of her age.
When she was evacuated by emergency workers, Semeniuk noticed that
army soldiers started digging trenches around the school.

For the past three days the girl has
lived in a bomb shelter that was constructed in Soviet times in the
basement of the town’s culture house in case of nuclear attack.

There are bright stuffed toys scattered
on top of old mattresses, marking the place where a group of children
sleeps in a stinky, dirty and narrow shelter along with dozens of
other, grown-up, people.

Heavy fighting that started near
Komsomolske this week forced some 12,000 residents
into shelters or basements to hide from shelling, a nasty side effect
of fights between the Ukrainian troops and Russian-back rebels and
the Russian army.

Shooting sounded really close to town
on the night of Aug. 30, making people uneasy about stepping too far away
from their shelter and ready to rush back in at any moment.

Most of the soldiers of the National
Guard crouched in their positions in town yards and cradling guns
looked gloomy and tired. Some of their fellow servicemen were killed
by enemy snipers earlier that day, they said.

A handful of residents were not scared
by the shooting, walking along streets with bags or small carriages
filled with food, mostly stolen from local shops.

Mass looting at the big ATB grocery
store and several smaller Olymp supermarkets started earlier in the
day. The National Guardsmen, who are part of the police forces,
initially made feeble attempts to stop the crowd from looting, but
then gave up and looked on as people robbed the stores.

Food has been getting hard to get in
Komsomolske because it’s dangerous to bring in new supplies to town.
As of late, shops have been open for just a few hours a day, selling
off mostly their old stock. Banks and ATMs have not worked for days.
The biggest local company that mines for limestone closed more than a
week ago because because it became too dangerous for its workers to
operate.

The town has been cut off electricity
and running water since Aug. 24.

Several locals have been killed by
shelling, including a 35-year-old man who was carrying water to the
nearby villages when shrapnel hit him. But the residents have no idea
how many people died because of the fights. The nearest hospital is
located in Starobeshevo, a neighboring town, currently an epicenter
of fighting.

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People are getting desperate living in
these tough conditions. “We don’t know where to buy bread for
children,” said Natalia, a young woman, who works as a nurse at a
children’s sanatorium and now cares for the orphans, many of whom
came to Komsomolske from Donetsk and Luhansk, the biggest militant
bases.

Another nurse started to bug Natalia
Semeniuk, the teenager, to call her adoptive mother in Donetsk who
has not shown any interest in her child for four months. The girl
started crying, setting the persistent nurse off sobbing as well. She
pulled out two small chocolate bars, and said that was all she had
left to share between nine children in her care.

The authorities in Komsomolske have
been changed several times over the last months. In May the
pro-Russian rebels held a pseudo-referendum in this town and then
proclaimed it part of Donetsk People’s Republic. Then the Ukrainian
troops pushed the militants in early June. But when the Russian army
started opened hostilities in the region this week, residents started
to anticipate a new power change.

Most of them participated in the
pro-Russian referendum, but since then they have developed good
relations with Ukrainian soldiers. They often feed or shelter
Ukrainian servicemen who are retreating from the battlefields.

Earlier on Saturday the locals saw
dozens of dirty, exhausted and often wounded soldiers who broke out
of an encirclement in Ilovaisk.

Residents also thanked the Ukrainian
soldiers who brought buck-wheat, milk and sausages to help the
orphans on Aug. 30.

But at the same time, locals feel angry
at the central government, blaming it – along with Ukrainian
oligarchs – for their problems. They don’t blame the Kremlin, and
don’t care much who will be in power. All they want is for the
horrors to end.

“Why can’t
(Ukraine’s President Petro) Poroshenko reach a deal with anyone?”
lamented Svitlana, a 48-year-old housewife, sitting in the bomb
shelter. “Our town is forgotten by all.”

Editor’s Note: This article is produced with support from www.mymedia.org.ua, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and implemented by NIRAS and BBC Media Action, as well as Ukraine Media Project, managed by Internews and funded by the U.S.Agency for International Development. Kyiv Post+ is a special project covering Russia’s war against Ukraine and the aftermath of the Euromaidan Revolution. Content is solely the responsibility of the Kyiv Post.