Russian Kommersant:
The highway from Kursk to Sudzha has turned into a real death road
Photo: Anatoly Zhdanov, Kommersant
A very long article:
"People called their relatives, they called 112, left requests for removal, for assistance - but all this was as if in the void. Phones 01, 02, city administration - no one answered. I only got through to the emergency service of the Sudzhansky district - they answered: "We are not in control of the situation, we know nothing." Well, this is understandable - there is an ordinary operator there, the same city resident. Of course, he knows nothing and has not received any orders. So we were left to our own devices.
— There was no evacuation?
— The word “evacuation” was simply not heard in Sudzha — neither on August 6 nor 7. If you don’t believe me, read our publics or comments on the governor’s page. People were leaving the city on their own in the morning of August 6, using their own transport, I emphasize this. We did not have a centralized evacuation. When we left on August 7, we saw several green buses behind Bolshoy Soldatsky. They may be waiting there for people to evacuate. But how can we know about this if there is no connection? How can people who do not have their own transport get to this place? The elderly, the disabled — what should they do? My teacher lives next door to me, she is 90 years old. There is also a 93-year-old woman nearby, bedridden, she is usually looked after by social security workers. How can they leave?
In my opinion, the city administration should have gone around the streets with loudspeakers. Tell people what evacuation options there are, what awaits them. Find out what they need now. But none of this was done.
— When did you leave the city for the second time?
— On August 7 at 13:00 our landline phone stopped working. That was the last straw. So we decided to go to Kursk and inform the regional authorities about the situation. We picked up our neighbor, took her to her relatives — and went straight to the governor’s public reception office. We left a statement there — they said that there was no water, food, communication, gasoline in the city, but there were still people.
— In your opinion, were there many people left in the city on August 7?
- Yes. I don't know exactly how many - but I saw people riding bicycles. I even saw children on the streets.
- Maybe these people themselves don't want to leave? And they don't need evacuation?
- Maybe so. But we need to find out, you understand. We need to at least talk to them, try to convince them to leave. Tell them where they will be accommodated, what guarantees will be provided. In the end, find out how many there are and what they need. I saw on the news that in the Belgorod region people did not leave Shebekino - and they were given food there.
— But in Shebekino the situation was still simpler...
Here Olga Dmitrievna gets confused for the first time and does not immediately find an answer.
"The situation here is still unclear," she says finally. "Everything they write about the situation in Sudzha still needs to be verified. That's why we're going home today."
Read the rest here:
Корреспондент “Ъ” побывал в Курской области
www.kommersant.ru
www.understandingwar.org
