A few days ago, three Russian aerial bombs struck a residential neighborhood on the outskirts of Sloviansk. One hit a five-story apartment building, injuring seven people. Along with neighboring Kramatorsk, Sloviansk is one of the last major towns in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk still under Ukrainian control.
Since summer, the city has been a combat zone. In a courtyard surrounded by damaged apartment blocks, a dusty carpet hangs over the metal frame of a swing set. Tetjana, a pensioner who lives in the building across the street, has brought it out of her rubble-strewn apartment to clean it.
She was in her kitchen when the bombs struck. "The bomb hit the second floor, and a woman who lived on the fourth floor was screaming," she tells DW. "They managed to rescue her before that entire section of the building collapsed," she adds.
Despite being offered the opportunity to evacuate, Tetjana has yet to leave Sloviansk. "I don't know where I would go," she says. Rent can cost up to €400 ($449) a month.
Tetjana's pension is the equivalent of just €67 ($75) a month. Even with monthly relocation assistance of about €40 ($45), she could not make ends meet. "I couldn't live on that.
Nowhere!" Meanwhile, electricity and water are still available in her neighborhood, but the gas supply has been cut off. "We'll get through this," Tetjana says hopefully. That's what I tell everyone.
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