VIDEO. A policeman risks everything to help the villagers of the Ukrainian front

Despite brutal fighting and a worsening humanitarian situation, many local residents refuse to leave their homes in the frontline areas of Ukraine’s Donbass region. The trusted police officer Rustam Lukomsky tries to convince the remaining ones to evacuate. He risks his life to help people in need because, as he says, “it means a lot.”

“Come here as nothing. Talk to them again and again. Then you gain their trust and become like family to them. [Tad] I tell them, “We should go.” And they say, “Maybe we should.” When they are finally taken from here back to normal life, they wonder, “Why did I stay there?” One of them told me: “I am grateful to you. “I don’t understand why I stayed there,” Rustam says.

“Rust has a notebook with a list of daily tasks, but following it in any particular order can be difficult because the situation on the front line is changing rapidly. Besides, there are new tasks every day,” says Boriss Satchalko, correspondent of “Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty”.

There are no doctors in frontline villages, so Rustam often performs the duties of a paramedic.

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