War in Ukraine: Mykolaiv bombing continues – Civilians leave as best they can

A district of uniform apartment buildings in its suburbs Mikolajifin the south Ukrainewas found in the crosshairs of Russian bombing. The bomber struck shortly after 5 a.m. Monday.

According to a report by Agence France-Presse, a shell caused a large hole in the second floor of an apartment building, metal doors were opened, windows were broken. Miraculously, there were no casualties from this explosion.

“I was sleeping, the windows started shaking, I stuck to the wall,” he said Vitaly Sombolev, a 70-year-old tenant. The kitchen of his house was dismantled, it was next to the spot where the shell fell. In this impoverished neighborhood there are no military targets, only civilians, “people who have nothing and no one helps them,” says Liliana Sindorska, from the 4th floor of the same building. “What is the Ukrainian government doing? Why are the Russians coming here to bomb us? They are bastards, bastards “, he repeats.

Mykolaif and its environs have been the scene of heavy bombardment and fighting for several days now, according to AFP, and relayed by APE BPE. The city of 500,000 residentwhich paid a heavy price during the Nazi occupation of World War II, is the last obstacle in the Black Sea before the Odessa130 km west, a strategically important target for Russian forces.

In the midst of this situation, car queues stretch for miles as civilians attempt to evacuate war zones. They wait to cross the river bridge that crosses the city to head west.

Just outside the city exit, a Ukrainian checkpoint and lots of cars. In some, the drivers have stuck papers that say “children”.

In front of the main hospital of the city, where doctors have been put on alert to care for any victims, Sabrina, a 19-year-old girl is waiting for her kidney-sick mother. “Then we will leave as soon as possible, by bus. “We can not stay here anymore, it is very dangerous”, says the young woman who is holding a dog by the leash, has thrown her cat in her jacket and is trying to carry various backpacks with clothes. She has no information about her husband, who left to fight at the front.

Many young soldiers are being treated here, such as Oleksandr, a 20-year-old who broke his leg in the wreckage of a Russian shell. The young man says that eight of his colleagues were killed, another eight are missing and 18 were injured.

It is impossible to verify his claims – even Chief Dmitry Sikorski does not take into account the wounded and the dead. “It’s too complicated.” He only knows that in the first days of the war 160 soldiers were hospitalized and that since then many civilians have sought help.

And what about the wounded Russian soldiers? “There are some, but we can not approach them, the military is dealing with them,” said Dr. Sikorski.

Only civilians are treated on its floor. Like Vira Pismena, a 70-year-old with blue eyes and white hair, with her face in blood and a thick bandage on her temple. He was wounded in the bombing of the village of Snegirovka, about 60 kilometers from Mykolaif. Her nephew and her two children are still hiding there, in the shelter. “Our planes have to bomb the Russians for what they did to us,” said the old woman.

“The second convoy with residents left the city of Sumy”

Meanwhile, a second convoy of residents left the Ukrainian city of Sumy via the “humanitarian corridor” created following the agreement reached today with Russia for a temporary ceasefire, said Deputy Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian presidency Kirill Tymoshenko.

Earlier in the day, regional authorities said the truce was largely observed, allowing the first wave of citizens to leave the city, including 1,000 foreign students.