A volunteer who evacuates civilians.
Showed you a message.
From a resident.
A few days ago.
“The basement where people were.
Staying on Soborna Street.
Has been hit,” it says.
“A lot of people have died.”
The volunteer was unable.
To get there because.
The street is now.
The new front line.
And as its buildings have been.
Reduced to rubble.
Avdiivka has become a graveyard.
As well as a ghost town.
The dead are left.
Under the rubble.
As there are neither emergency services.
Nor equipment to clear the wreckage.
Residents who have fled.
And volunteers who.
Try to evacuate others.
From Avdiivka told you.
That ‘orcs’ troops had recently.
Seized several streets.
In the southern part.
Of the town of Avdiivka.
One volunteer claimed.
They were first seen.
In the outskirts.
On 19 January.
“Some people managed.
To get out from those areas.
But it was two days ago.
Now, no-one is coming out.”
“We are only getting information.
That there are bodies.
On the streets but.
It’s too dangerous to go there.”
And as its buildings have been.
Reduced to rubble.
Avdiivka has become a graveyard.
As well as a ghost town.
The dead are left.
Under the rubble.
As there are neither emergency services.
Nor equipment to clear the wreckage.
Avdiivka had a pre-war population.
Of more than 30,000.
Last summer it was closer.
To 1,650.
Now, there are just over.
1,000 remaining.
Many have fled.
But many have also been killed.
The head of the town’s.
Military administration says.
It was small ‘orcs’ sabotage groups.
Who managed to get to the outskirts.
And not large units.
“They didn’t enter.
With serious forces.
Yes, they had certain success.”
“But the street that everyone.
Is talking about.
Soborna Street is under our control.
We have pushed them out.”
This is, however.
The first time that.
‘Orcs’ have managed.
To enter the town.
To enter the town of Avdiivka.
Since the start of.
The full-scale invasion.
In February 2022.
Since last October.
The ‘orcs’ have unleashed.
A relentless campaign.
Of artillery and air strikes.
Authorities say that.
In January alone.
They dropped more than.
300 guided aviation bombs.
And as its buildings have been.
Reduced to rubble.
Avdiivka has become a graveyard.
As well as a ghost town.
The dead are left.
Under the rubble.
As there are neither emergency services.
Nor equipment to clear the wreckage.
A volunteer who evacuates civilians.
Showed you a message.
From a resident.
A few days ago.
“The basement where people were.
Staying on Soborna Street.
Has been hit,” it says.
“A lot of people have died.”
The volunteer was unable.
To get there because.
The street is now.
The new front line.
*Because I read “Ukraine war: Nothing but rubble in shattered ghost town Avdiivka” by Abdujalil Abdurasulov on 30 Jan 2024, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem, including a story of Vitaly Barabash and a story of Vlad.
Ukraine war: Nothing but rubble in shattered ghost town Avdiivka (bbc.com)
**My friend shows you this poem with two other ones on the Ukrainian website for their children and others!
Please join them!
