War-weary residents mourn homes lost in eastern Ukraine bombings | Ukraine-Russia Crisis News

Nevelske, Ukraine Surrounded by empty wheat fields and buried under a thick layer of snow, the town of Nevelske in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine is completely abandoned: the crisis between Ukraine and Russia, which has led Europe to the brink of conflict, has intensified.

It is only 24 km (15 miles) northwest the separatist city of Donetskthe residents of the agricultural settlement were exposed for more than seven years in the face of the coalition of the conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russian separatist protectionists, until the major bombings in mid-November escaped most of the remaining residents.

Prior to the start of the war in 2014, about 300 people lived in Nevelske, according to the UN Office for Human Affairs (OCHA). The population dropped to 45 during the November attacks; now only a few remain.

The bombing of Ukraine took place amid heavy tensions between Russia and the West, and Moscow gathered tens of thousands of soldiers and military equipment near the Ukrainian border.

‘Everything was destroyed’

Before the attacks, Nevelske was a relatively modern town with bathrooms and indoor toilets, a luxury in a rural area plagued by poverty.

The residents worked hard to develop the village by hand and were able to plant enough vegetables in the surrounding fields to be mostly self-sufficient, especially for those who could not work for the elderly population.

Valentina Omelnycka’s house was surrounded by a blue fence and had a lush garden where she planted flowers and grapes in the summer, and a house with a feather in the yard in the Ukrainian town of Nevelske appreciated the pigs.

The 63-year-old man put “so much love” into his home, he said.

After the first attack on November 14, she and her 24-year-old husband, Andriy Dmytryuchenko, 45, hoped to be temporarily arrested and decided to stay at their home.

But on the morning of November 18, Dmytryuchenko recalls seeing a light from the window through the window and calling his 36-year-old stepdaughter Omelnycka and Olha Snehovska to the basement shelter.

“Everything was shaking, and when we came out everything was gone and we didn’t get any sleep that night,” Dmytryuchenko said.

Dmytryuchenko, 45, shows a piece of shrapnel from the garden of his old house in Nevelsk [Emre Caylak/Al Jazeera]

“We looked in the garden and saw that the barn was gone, the ducks were lying dead and the pigs, one full of shrapnel, were dead … We tried very nicely and everything was destroyed in 40 minutes.”

The pigsty was razed, an unexploded shell broke into the closet and 12 kittens were killed.

As is the case in other locations in the militarily controlled area of ​​the so-called “red zone” of Operation United Forces in Ukraine, listening to gunfire and explosions is part of everyday life in Nevelsk.

He has been fighting since the beginning of the war Invaded and annexed by Russia He supported the separatists who occupied large parts of the southern Crimean peninsula and the eastern part of the country.

Both sides achieved a ceasefire in 2015, but enemies have continued and nearly 14,000 people have been killed, including more than 3,000 civilians.

A rift erupted between Russia and the West in October, when Ukraine attacked a shell operated by Russian-backed separatists with an armed drone and appeared to show satellite images of Russia. it gathered tens of thousands of soldiers Close to its borders with Ukraine.

They have been Western leaders fighting to calm the crisissome have warned that it could lead to an invasion of Ukrainian territory, reaching Russia, while trying to increase pressure, ordering harsh sanctions in the event of an invasion.

“We were directed directly”

Omelnycka and Dmytryuchenko, both with gold-toothed smiles and soft blue eyes, said that during the conflict mines and other weapons hit gardens and fields, but rarely village houses.

“After the toughest fight here in 2014, people came back a month later, but this time I don’t think they will. At the time, the bombing was random, but this time it was aimed at raiding people’s homes, ”Omelnycka said.

“They know that civilians live here, they shouldn’t target us. But they put us straight. ”

Of the 50 buildings in the town, 16 were struck and 11 were destroyed. A military doctor sent to the village suffered serious shrapnel wounds, but was later cured at the hospital. Several farm animals were killed.

Valentina Omelnycka, 63, and Andriy Dmytryuchenko, 45, in their friends’ barn near Pisky, Ukraine [Emre Caylak/Al Jazeera]

Many of Nevelsky’s houses are still inhabited, including Omelnycka and Dmytryuchenko, but the attacks left the town without gas and electricity, and without water, due to the use of electric water pumps.

There is no longer a grocery store, the nearest one is a ten minute drive away. Neighbors are wary of investing money in expensive repairs to their homes when they think the town may be the target again.

Neighbors say they have received a small amount of humanitarian aid from the International Committee of the Red Cross and People In Need Czech charity.

Concerns about escalating enemies have fueled fears of an escalating humanitarian crisis across the region.

Amnesty International’s rights group warned on Friday that there would be more armed conflict in Ukraine devastating consequences it can lead to the human rights of millions of people and the refugee crisis. According to government figures, about 1.45 million people have been displaced.

The calendar shows the month of November, when the last attack took place, inside an abandoned house, Nevelske [Emre Caylak/Al Jazeera]

Dmytryuchenko and Omelnycka are temporarily staying in a nearby village at their sister’s house. They will soon have to find a more sustainable solution, but they still don’t know how to pay the rent.

When a town is ruined, they say, nearby prices go up because the demand for those who flee has increased. According to Dmytryuchenko, housing prices in the area have risen in recent years.

“We are talking to friends from other cities like Nipro (the children were taken away) and they call me and talk about moving to where they are. We cry every now and then because they want to come back and stay here,” he said.

“I want peace and we can do the rest. Maybe those who left in 2014 would return. ”