“EMOTIONS BREAK”
Less than 12,000 people remain in the greater Toretsk area out of a pre-invasion population of at least 66,000, regional police said.
“With each day, it’s more dangerous for people to remain in place, in their homes,” said Vladyslav Arseniy, an East SOS rescuer.
Sharonova and her mother are among the two dozen or so people evacuated each week by East SOS, which roves the war-scarred Donetsk region on a near-daily basis responding to calls.
Reuters accompanied the group on a recent mission as it collected elderly and infirm residents from their homes and local hospitals, mostly from cities like Kostiantynivka which are further from the front line.
Two bed-ridden women were laid out across the back of the minivan, and the others packed into the back seat.
Those left in Toretsk, where fields outside the city are marked by both fresh and decade-old trenches, are determined to stay until their homes are completely destroyed, Arseniy said.
Sharonova and her mother, who had endured two wartime winters in their apartment, said they were headed for a larger city in central Ukraine and do not expect to return.
East SOS member Oleksandr Stasenko, speaking outside the train in which he helped load the several residents the team evacuated that day, said it was difficult seeing frightened people.
“Emotions break through sometimes and you tear up,” he said. “But you pull yourself together and help people.”
