‘We have nothing’: residents after Izium being retaken скачать в хорошем качестве

‘We have nothing’: residents after Izium being retaken

(20 Sep 2022) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4398268 ASSOCIATED PRESS Izium - 19 September 2022 1. Aerial of damaged bridge ++MUTE++ HEADLINE: Suffering in recaptured Ukrainian city 2. Residents walking across bridge 3. Various of residents searching for wood at destroyed school ANNOTATION: This eastern Ukrainian city was one of the first taken by the Russian military at the start of the war. ANNOTATION: For six months, Izium served as a command center for the occupying forces. It was left in ruins.   ANNOTATION: Izium was retaken in a Ukrainian counteroffensive on Sept. 10. Residents are still emerging from the confusion and trauma of six months of occupation. 4. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Oleksandra Lysenko, 74-year-old Izium resident: "We have no heating, no gas. We have nothing. We are taking wood to heat water for tea and to make porridge. Look at my hands! I'm 75 years old." 5. Buildings 6. Gravesite in forest ++MUTE++ ANNOTATION: On the northern outskirts of town, a gravesite containing hundreds of remains was discovered. 7. Various of investigators carrying body bag to truck ANNOTATION: Investigators are exhuming the bodies to start the grim job of identification. 8. Various of residents waiting in line to collect mail ANNOTATION: But a glimmer of hope arrived by way of the postal service. On Monday, dozens of people lined up to wait for the first mail delivery since February. 9. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Volodymyr Olyzarenko, 69-year-old resident: "If the mail is working, it means that life is getting better. We will live and hope for the best." 10. Soldiers riding on tank passing queue of people waiting for mail STORYLINE: Izium, in far eastern Ukraine, was among the first cities taken by Russian forces after the war started on February 24 and became a command center for the occupying forces. By early March, the city was almost completely isolated — no cell phones, no heat, no power. Residents didn't know what was going on in the war, whether their relatives were alive, whether there was still a Ukraine. Izium was eventually retaken in a Ukrainian counteroffensive on September 10. But more than a week later, residents were still emerging from the confusion and trauma of six months of occupation. The school was a shattered mess. Its six-month life as a Russian base and mechanic shop ended in August with a Ukrainian missile strike. Its years educating Izium's youth were over, but it had one last gift for the residents who needed so much: the wood that made up its lattice work, its chalkboards, its furniture and beams. A handful of elderly residents — some prepared with gloves, sturdy woven bags, and hand tools — came by on Monday to salvage firewood from the rubble. It will be months, if not longer, before Izium will have meaningful electricity, gas and running water, and a chill is already settling in. But on Monday morning expectations were running high for a more basic form of communication. By the time the mail truck pulled into the parking lot of a closed market, more than a hundred people were milling around, waiting for the first postal delivery since February. But there will be hard days to come. A gravesite containing hundreds of remains was discovered last week in a forest on the northern outskirts of town and investigators were exhuming the bodies to start the grim job of identification. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the site contains more than 440 graves. Russian officials have distanced themselves from responsibility for the site. =========================================================== Clients are reminded: Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...