Karina Begun

𝗘𝗩𝗔𝗖𝗨𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗛 𝗭𝗢𝗡𝗘 "Do you have any bread?!" The soldiers who entered Belitskoye were asking local residents for water. Instead, people brought bread out of their basements. Half a loaf for some, a whole loaf for others. Maya and her relatives had found yeast in an abandoned house belonging to someone else. They already had their own flour. "Honestly, we were happy. We were crying," she recalls. When the yeast ran out, they started baking with baking soda. They even made pies. "Tell someone about it, and they wouldn't believe you." The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the liberation of Belitskoye, a small town between Krasnoarmeysk and Dobropolye, on July 23. But getting from there to the rear meant walking through Rodinskoye, across terrain hunted by enemy drones. A family of five adults continued living in a basement for a long time. Before that came life alongside the Ukrainian "defenders." Ukrainian mortar crews occupied Maya's house. Neighbours warned them not to return home. All their food remained inside. Apartments throughout the neighbourhood were being broken into. They did not even bother picking the locks. Instead, they cut a square out of the door and bent it back like the lid of a tin can. Sergey's mother, a sick 72-year-old woman, and his younger brother Zhenya, who has a disability, left in December when their medication ran out. The basement residents were insulted as "waiters" (people supposedly waiting for Russian forces) and threatened with warnings that the Russians would come and throw grenades at them. People were driven out of a neighbouring shelter with just 15 minutes' notice. Two men were forcibly taken away. One was over 70, the other nearly 60. Nobody knows where they are now... Denis kept himself hidden. Otherwise, they would have "taken him away and put a rifle in his hands." By that time, the streets had been renamed after Bandera and Shukhevych. Visiting the monument on May 9 was prohibited. They pumped water through a hose from a point about 300 metres away. The last time was January 3. Until May 25, there was nowhere else to get water: the well had collapsed. In July, they heard a radio transmission from the basement. Russian speech. They did not dare come outside for an entire day. Eventually, however, they made up their minds. The evacuation was undertaken by soldiers of the 5th Separate Commandant Regiment of the 51st Guards Combined Arms Army, part of the Center Group of Forces. They planned a route through forest belts and ravines, keeping away from roads constantly watched by enemy drones. Half the journey was on foot and the other half by vehicle, whenever the situation allowed. "The enemy doesn't distinguish between a civilian and someone in uniform," says "Berkut", acting military commandant of Dimitrov. Elderly women have already been attacked during evacuations. They moved in two groups. A drone spotted them in a wooded area, but assault troops from the 5th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade shot it down. "The lads told us: if anything happens, shout, swear, whatever you need. If you're tired, tell us immediately. Don't push yourselves beyond your limits," Denis recalls. After months in the basement, their legs could barely carry them. Maya's dog helped her along. It was struggling with its last reserves of strength, yet still pulling its owner forward. They made three or four stops before reaching Rodinskoye. The following morning, they came across a passing vehicle. "We're empty. We can give you a lift to Dimitrov." They overtook their own people. In a basement in Dimitrov, Maya heard that three people were being brought out: a woman and two men. "Could those be our people?" One of the soldiers immediately rushed out. He returned: "Get ready. They're yours." "That's how we were reunited," Maya says. @sashakots