Slavyansk in 2014 became the city that started the war in the East of Ukraine. Then our military drove out the pro-Russian forces from there, but already in 2022 the city was again under even more powerful enemy shelling.
Slavyansk is located less than 50 kilometers from Bakhmut, which the Russian military now wants to take at any cost. So, she still arrives in the front-line city.
Lyubov Koryachok at least did not leave the city in 2014, but in 2022 she could not stand it. A 61-year-old resident of Slovyansk, as part of the OWN project, toldChannel 24, what horrors she had to endure 8 years ago, why she could no longer stay at home and decided to evacuate, what were the 8 months of her forced relocation and what is happening in her hometown now.
“It didn't fit in my head”: about Slavyansk in 2014
After the occupation of Crimea in 2014, Russia brought war in Slavyansk, Donetsk region. How did everything happen then?
In 2014, no one expected that a war would start from our city. It didn't fit in my head. We are a small town, resort – we have salt lakes. People from all over the world came to us.
I worked in the market when it all started: shooting, enemy soldiers. Then the bazaars were closed, and I was left without a job. Subsequently, the city no longer had electricity and water.
My son and his family lived on Artem Street. When heavy fighting began, he and his pregnant wife and small child left for Odessa, and then for Sumy. But I did not think to leave, I stayed at home. I didn’t want to leave my house and hoped that everything would stop soon. I didn't know it would take so long.
How did you survive then?
I almost sat at home half-starved. She survived with cucumbers, zucchini, sometimes she bought boiled sausage. I remember once I went for help from the church, where they gave cereals. We were standing in line when rockets began to fly over this area behind us. People hid in the church.
By the way, there was a grocery store nearby. When everything calmed down, we left, and there was nothing left of the store. Fortunately, the saleswoman just went to the toilet and so escaped.
Slavyansk was then very shelled. The pro-Russian forces did not consider civilians…
Yes, once we were riding in a minibus, we had to jump out of there because they started shooting. The fragments flew, and we ran into the destroyed building and sat there until the shooting stopped.
And once I rode a bicycle from the city center, because neither trolleybuses nor minibuses ran. They shot at us so that I was driving, and everything was on fire from all sides – the bus station, the gas station, the furniture shop.
The Ukrainian military liberated Slovyansk on July 5, 2014: watch the video
What was your most memorable experience in 2014?
In our microdistrict Khimik, one girl went out onto the balcony to make a phone call. They (the Russian invaders – Channel 24) decided that she was transmitting something to someone. And they shot her right on the balcony. Lots of hard memories. It's very terrible. They fired at schools, a children's home, a depot, residential buildings.
Thriftiness helped to survive: what life was like in the city after February 24
When the full-scale invasion began on February 24, you were at home. What were the first two months of the war in Slavyansk like?
I got used to such explosions before February 24 in 2014. Another time they laughed. Because they (Russian militants – Channel 24) fired on schedule before the full-scale invasion. For example, our neighbors were constantly sitting on the street, saying: “Oh, they shoot at 20 o'clock.”
Of course, when they shot harder, it was scary. Some people from the apartments went to the bomb shelter, but I personally did not hide anywhere.
But you lived in the city even before April 2022. How did you survive then?
I am a resourceful person. Always, when there was a little extra money, I bought either cereals or other products. There were so many supplies that when we were driving from the city, I gave everything to people. I didn’t know whether I would come home or not, whether the house would remain intact or not. That's why I gave the canned food and other products to the children of my daughter's friend so that it wouldn't be lost.
Why didn't you leave in February-March?
I didn't want to leave . Although she kept telling her husband: “Let's go to visit our parents' village.” And then fate forced us to leave, although I resisted for a long time.
My son almost forcibly sent me when the war was already in full swing – every day they shot, explosions were heard, sirens howled. Both arms and legs were already shaking.
Lyubov's daughter Julia with her sons/Photo by Lyubov Koryachok
Important. Son and Luba's daughter left for Poland even before the full-scale Russian invasion. Two older grandchildren work in Poland, three younger ones study in a Polish school.
“Couldn't stand it when the Russians dropped a cluster bomb at 300 meters from us”
When and why did you decide to leave Slovyansk?
I couldn't stand it anymore when they dropped me at the school where my children and grandchildren once studied at one in the morning a cluster bomb from an aircraft. This is about 300 meters from our house. All our windows trembled, everything lit up. It felt like everything was flying through our windows. The husband shouts: “They are shooting at us. Fall on the floor.” I fell and that's it.
The day after that bomb fell, we phoned the city council hotline and wherever we could to find out when the evacuation bus would be. Then we decided to go home to my father.
After all, that explosion was heard in my ears for half a day, and my hands were shaking for another week.
Pay attention. Lyubov's father was born and raised in the village of Vornichany in Bukovina. It was here that a small woman was brought. She remembers well her relatives, the area, and her parents' house.
What are the consequences of a cluster bomb?
Trolleybus, electric and internet wires were interrupted. The glass stop shattered into small pieces. A huge hole punched through the school, the windows and doors in the store opposite flew out.
However, on the same day, trolleybuses were launched, electricity and the Internet were restored.
Something remains of the school ?
The school was not completely destroyed, but the roof was pierced, the windows were knocked out. Then the whole blast wave went to the other side. But it sounded like we were undermined. It's scary from missiles, but it's impossible to convey … It was horror. There are no words. I heard this for the first time in my life.
Help.Cluster bombs were banned from use in 2008 at an international convention in Dublin, Ireland. However, Russia does not take this into account. The invaders are dropping them on the peaceful cities of Ukraine. These bombs are filled with an abundance of fragments, aircraft mines and other mines for various purposes, which, when exploding, scatter throughout the affected area. Therefore, they hit larger areas than other monoblock ammunition. And not all cluster bomb mines can explode immediately, so they are dangerous for civilians in the future. about moving to Bukovina
How did you leave Slovyansk?
We waited for the evacuation to take place. After all, I went to all instances to find out how we can leave. We went on Monday, it was April 24th, exactly on Easter. We left by evacuation bus from Slavyansk to Pokrovsk. We were met there, given sandwiches and tea.
We waited until evening and were seated in compartment cars. In Lvov, we were met by acquaintances, already fed at the station. We also waited for the bus and went to Chernivtsi. We arrived when there was a curfew. That's why they stayed until the morning. In the morning my brother Mikhail and his nephew picked us up from the station. And on April 28 we were finally in Vornichany. The 78-year-old mother of my husband left with us. She also lived in Slavyansk, although apart from us. We constantly came to help her.
Did you decide in Slavyansk that you would go to your father's village?
Yes, if I didn't know this, I probably wouldn't go anywhere else. And I talked with my sister Elena and brother Mikhail. Elena asked her godfather Nikolai to accommodate us. So we were brought to the yard where my father once grew up. They mowed the grass there, put a toilet on the street for us, cleared the ditch. People from the village did everything so quickly that I was shocked.
How do you like life in Bukovina?
There were only beds in the house. And now they have already removed it, put some furniture, laid paths. The floor fell through, but the husband patched it up with a sheet of fiberboard. Of course, Edik's mother was shocked, because she spent her whole life in an apartment, got used to the conveniences. But he puts up with what he has.
So we settled down and have been living here for almost 8 months. There is such a beautiful nature, storks, wells, houses. I really like it here, although we miss home.
“If you want to live, you have to go”: about people, evacuation and a second home >Father told me that there are very good people here, that no one has closed their house since birth. I haven't seen this anywhere. We in Slavyansk would have taken out everything to the last rag long ago.
I'm still in shock at how we were welcomed here. We prepared the house as best we could. We just arrived, so the first to come to us were neighbors – grandparents. They immediately entered the yard, brought with them canned food, lard, apples – everything they could. Then fellow villagers also came with canned potatoes. They brought so many that we had enough to plant. We have harvested potatoes, tomatoes.
This story happened to us – I have a disability due to health problems, so I was advised to eat pumpkin. And I don't like her, so we bought a used juicer to drink juice. Then we decided to buy apples for juice. We went to the place where fruits are accepted in the village. And there, just a woman in a jeep brought apples to hand over. I told her that we wanted to buy apples, that we were migrants. We got to talking and it turned out that this is my second cousin. She brought us home and gave us two bags of apples. She also told me where her garden was and allowed her to pick apples there.
And also a very good family sells in the store. I have never come across this before. Edik's mom says that wherever we go, we pull bags from there. The people here are very nice, everyone says hello. I really like it.
What can you say to people who don't want to leave? You recalled your godfather, who is still in Slavyansk.
There are many empty houses in our village (we are talking about Vornichany – Channel 24). People will gladly accept everyone if you are a normal person.
I think that the inhabitants of Slovyansk and other areas where there is heavy shelling should leave. It is not known what will happen tomorrow and from which side it will fall. If you want to live, then you need to leave.
In Slavyansk, we only had a godfather and my husband's brother. They are still young, but they do not have money to leave. They live starving. They haven't earned their pensions yet, and they don't have jobs now.
What will you do after the victory?
Honestly, there are no plans. I might have stayed here, but this is the house of people who looked after the wife of my uncle, my father's brother, who lived here after his death. Of course, we would be most happy if there were no shootings in Slavyansk, so that there would be a victory, quietly, peacefully (smiles). Here's what I'm thinking of doing. Children recently invited us to Poland. The main thing is to win, but there will be plans.
Love communicates with his neighbors and godfather, who remained in Slavyansk. They boarded up the rest of the windows that the couple didn't have time to board when they left. The house is intact except for a few broken windows. Although two houses near them burned down, the third one was extinguished. Love says that she misses her hometown, at home. However, I am grateful to fate that I can live calmer. Even without electricity, but without Russia.
