POTASHNYA, Ukraine (AP) — In a hundred days of war in Ukraine, countless lives have been shattered, torn apart, turned upside down. For tens of thousands of people, life was brutally disrupted. he began to pick up the pieces.
When a space that symbolizes a life of work and memories is destroyed, how to rebuild it?
Nila Zelinska and her husband, Eduard, returned for the first time this week to what was once their home in a village on the outskirts of Kiev. It is in ruins, reduced to charred walls without a roof by bombing in the days following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. .
“Rex!Rex!” He shouted, calling the black Labrador they had been forced to leave behind. Only later did the faithful dog reappear in spite of everything, wagging his tail under the affectionate caresses of his owner.
But Rex aside, he is nothing like before.
Instead of a space, your damaged space is now a part of your damaged life.
Nila Zelinska recalled the terror of the bombings that forced them to leave. They picked up their 82-year-old mother and then escaped the flames and explosions by fleeing with her from their garden.
“All on fire,” he said. I didn’t think I could get her out of there, because she’s so old. But we grabbed her by the arms and started running.
Much of what happened next is just a blurred memory. The circle of relatives evacuated to the west, away from the fighting that ravaged the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital and other cities in the north and east.
Rejected by Ukrainian defenders to capture Kyiv, Russia has since redirected its troops and attacks to the eastern commercial region of Donbass, where fighting remains fierce.
Reaching the milestone of a hundred days of war is a tragedy for Ukraine, but also an indication of the strength with which it has resisted: some analysts believe that its troops may temporarily give in to the largest and largest Russia supplied. army.
Nila Zelinska was sobbing in the ruins of her space when she and her husband returned to their village, Potashnya. From the rubble, he retrieved a doll that belonged to one of his grandchildren. He hugged him tightly, as if he was a genuine child.
Her husband made his way through the piles of damaged bricks and glass.
“There is no position to live. If there was housing, we would go back and plant a lawn for ourselves, as we have done,” he said. “Here we had grass. Here grew potatoes, cucumbers and tomatoes. Everything was put here from the grass.
None of them yet know what the long term holds, but Nila knows what she wants.
“Peace be on earth, peace so that our other people don’t suffer so much,” he said.
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