Ukraine War- The battle for Severodonetsk

 

Ukraine War- The battle for Severodonetsk

 

the sound of severe donetsk beingpounded and broken by bombs never stops[Music]ukrainian troops vastly outnumbered herecan see the russians blasting their wayinand underneath all these explosionsthere are civilians still trying tosurvivethe situation's becoming increasinglydire at this pointone of the main bridges linking the cityto the rest of the donbass has alreadybeen bombed and is now impossibleso when we enter it's by the only routeleft the last usable bridge which hasalso been hit several timesit's the city's remaining lifeline andon our arrival the ukrainians are onlyjust holding on to itinside we see an humanitarian disasterrapidly unfolding with thousands ofpeople still herethis is a city which russia would havebanked on being pro kremlin with stronglinks and often with relatives livingthere they are very reluctant toevacuees but they are fleeing in theface of this terrible onslaughtit's a hell you know it's hell uhfirstuh everydaysecond a lot of deaththird humanitarian uh problemsthe seoul working hospital is nowsurrounded by russian troops so the onlychance for the injured is to beevacuated and this is one of the veryfew evacuation tripsnow it seems like the front is allaround the city it's practicallysurrounded their tanks they are likewe can seetrucks from the army being beingdeployed around the city so it seemsvery clear that to meuh it's about to fall are you glad to begoingyes and noi don't knowfeeling sad about leaving as wellbut time is running out of there toleaveand these volunteers hope to be backlater to help more fleea handful are delivering water strappingbottles on the back of their bikes totake to those trapped in their homeshe was a musician oncenow his world is filled with the soundsof wara small moment to collect himselfbut we will win he tells useverything will be okayvalerie's another it's far away hereassures us about the bombing thestrength of these people continues toastonishwe're used to it he says it's been threemonthsvaleria and his wife neela won't leavethey've notched up 135 years betweenthem and they're now enduring bombswhich are landing every few minutesit is unrelenting and goes on and on ashe weaves his way back through hiscommunity and takes us to his home wherehe and his neighbors have beensheltering and where he's been ferryingfood and water towhere there seems to be still a fairamount of people livinghis neighbors tell us how hard it is toget even wateryelena's saying she has to carry two orthree bottles by handeveryone begins to panic at what soundslike cluster bombs landing far too closeby we head for the doorway to shelteropen the basement for larry shouts comecome he says i'm used to it everyonepiles inside waiting for yet moreincoming bombsevery day is like this elena tells us itwas quiet for just 10 minutesevery day it's back and forth like thisflying over our headsseconds later valeria's punched by aneighbor he's angry at valeri forbringing foreign journalists heremany blame us for prompting the bombingsthis war has set pensioner againstpensioner and forced neighbours to turnon each otheri'm trying not to cry she says i'mtrying to keep myself calm but you needto tell them what the situation isthis is going on all the timeconstant barrage it's unbelievable thatthere are so many peoplewho are still living and having to putup with thisthey're right in the middle of itat the aid hub more injured have beenbrought in and one woman has got a verynasty head wound there's no gunshotwound it's just a shrapnelthe worst injuries to her head but shejust needs to get evacuated for thatit turns out sky news colleague nickdavenport is the most qualified medichere probably in the whole of the citythere's a police trained first aider toowho asked not to be identifiedthere are two badly wounded here butmost certainly not the only ones in direneed of medical help in the cityemma is back with her evac team but hervehicle has broken down so she'surgently trying to find replacementswe only have twopassenger vehiclessomehow the aid hub manager finds a wayout for themthis is going to be a difficult anddangerous journey for thembut at least they have hopethere's very little of that going aroundthis city right now as we can hear therussian troops getting nearer and themilitary circle around several donetskclosing ina lot of people with no option havehunkered down in an old soviet-builtbunker day and nightthey cook food on fires in the openpower and running water stopped weeksago but it's always done within easyreach of their underground shelterto descend down here is to enter a trulygrim dank and perpetually dark placedesperation and despair stalk theconcrete corridors and disease runs riotthere's a shame here amongst theresidents a real embarrassment aboutbeing reduced to thisthere are nearly a hundred people livingon top of one another twenty feetunderground the only place they feeloffers them some chance of survival fromthe bombings abovethey've had an outbreak of tuberculosispeople have caught pneumonia in herehygiene's obviously extremely hard inthese terribly cramped conditions and wehear constant coughing and wretchingsheets of cardboard are used asseparation but they offer scant privacyand all this is all they have salvagedfrom their liveslife has a post-apocalyptic feel aboutit down here but still some display asteely determination to come throughthis[Music]i mustsurvive i don't think about thosechallenges bombings explosions and so onand so forth i just wanna i justhave to or even muskmust survivethere's a half hour when the generatorsswitched on and they have power there'sa rush to charge phones used for lightand to take the chance to maintain someself-carebut it also means they can pump waterand stock up on suppliestanya goes round the shelter tellingeveryone this is the final opportunityto get out of several dinettesthis is the last chance for evacuationshe says think about itbut no one here is ready to flee theirhome city despite the obvious dangersmany here have had access only torussian propaganda and believe they'reliberating themwe sleep in a warehouse the police tellus to be ready to head out in the middleof the night should the russian troopsmove into the city no one expects it tobe longby dawn there are already peoplegathered hoping they can get a ride outto safer groundthey've woken to more intense bombingrussian troops are at the city gates andthe noose is tighteningthis has been going onthis has been going on all morningthere are lots and lots of residentsstill living here a lot of them oldpeople and having to run in and out ofthis just to cook or to fetch water itis relentlessthe russians are bombing street bystreet in their efforts to capture thiscity blasting houses and homes whichstand in their path they have themomentum nowand the destruction is immensetaking sevra donetsk would mean thewhole of the lehansk region falls torussian controlmaria and ivan have lived here all theirmarried lives now they're outdoorkitchens amongst the world's mostdangerousthey've just got food scraps and blameboth sides for targeting civilians[Laughter][Music]come on come on says maria this is sohard for the elderly who don'tunderstand why there's a war overdonbass at allmaria urges ivan to clear space for usto shelter they're more worried aboutour safetythis is what their days are like nowdodging explosions and separated fromtheir grandchildren[Music]and they feel they've been badly letdown by their city leaders[Music]so far they've been lucky but they'vecome closebut the real hurt is in the familyseparationthe city already looks smashed to piecesbut there are thousands of civiliansstill inside and the russians show nosigns of stopping their barrage yetalex crawford sky news inside sevradonetsk in the donbass eastern ukraine