The plane alarm goes off. But no one here reacts much to it.
Then we hear an explosion, but neither does Anna Mosieenko (40) react to it.
– Anna was afraid that the Russian soldiers at the checkpoints would shoot them. Photo: Bent Skjærstad / TV 2
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Maybe not so strange, because she has just gotten out of the bombed-out city of Mariupol. We meet her in the city of Zaporizhia.
– It is a miracle that we managed to do it, she says excitedly.
Anna can hardly believe that she, her husband, Volodomir, and the three sons, Nikitia, Volodomir and Aleksandr, have managed to get past 20 Russian checkpoints, which are set up on the road between Mariupol and Zaporizhia.
– The family is happy to get out of Mariupol alive. Photo: Bent Skjærstad / TV 2
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– I was terrified that they would kill us. They aimed weapons at us. They stood three pieces around us. I begged them, I have three children, I said. Let’s go out with the children, Anna tells us.
At all checkpoints they are searched, cars and luggage are checked by the Russian soldiers. No one who escapes should bring video or photos that show what it looks like inside the city.
– All the time they went out to check what was in our luggage. They looked at everything, checked everything. Every kilometer it repeated itself, says Anna.
Lost family
Today, hundreds of people managed to get out of Mariupol. For seven weeks they have been trapped in the middle of the brutal battle for the port city.
– They bombed all the time. From planes, from tanks … All the houses around us were laid in ruins. Everything burned. The whole city is burnt out.
– Anna does not get hold of her mother. His father was killed in the war. Photo: Bent Skjærstad / TV 2
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But even though Anna got out, not everyone did.
– I could not find my mother and my father was killed. My brother had to bury him.
Like living in a concentration camp
They have seen with their own eyes the atrocities the Russians have caused, and experienced during the time they were trapped in the city to live in the areas of the city that the Russians occupied.
– It’s a concentration camp. We were in the same situation as in a concentration camp.
They did not dare to leave the house for fear of what would happen, even though they lacked both water and food at times.
– If we went outdoors, we were stopped. And we were afraid of what would happen every time we had to pass a street corner, says Anna.
Will return even if the Russians are there
But not everyone is as happy to be on this side of the front line.
A bus parks at the reception in Zaporizhia. Everyone on board the bus will return to their village, Rosovka, even if the Russians occupy it.
– They do not let us drive to our area, we can not fathom it, says Vasily
– Although they are afraid, Vasily and many others will return to areas occupied by the Russians. Photo: Bent Skjærstad / TV 2
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Vasilij is a school bus driver. Along with others, he has been on the Ukrainian side to collect money, medicines and goods they need in the village.
It is not easy to get this in the areas occupied by the Russians.
– The bus is full of food, drink and other things people in the Russian-occupied areas need. Photo: Bent Skjærstad / TV 2
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The bus is fully loaded with everything they have shopped, but when they had to cross the last checkpoint at the front line, they were refused to continue driving.
– Vasily and the others do not know what to do now when they are not allowed to go home again. Photo: Bent Skjærstad / TV 2
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Even though they have seen the atrocities that have been uncovered elsewhere, they will still try to get back home.
– I have lived in Rosovka for 63 years. I have nowhere to go. I’m scared, I’m already told you. I’m very scared of what might happen. But I have nowhere else to go.
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