Many resist the 135-kilometer journey with the vehicle as full as a lifeboat on the Titanic: There are few drivers, like Yuri, who are willing to cross enemy lines. Cats cling to their owners, children cling to this particular toy – but almost no one has a suitcase as they arrive in the small Ukrainian town of Bashtanka. Picture: Mother Anastasia Alokaina 37 years old, left with her children Maria 9 and Ksousa 12 years old Teacher Anastasia Alokaina and Ksusha’s two children, 12 and nine-year-old Maria, carry only small backpacks and a soft toy each. “What did you leave behind?” I ask. “My whole life,” says Anastasia. “Our pets stayed with our parents. My parents, my sister and my niece are still in Kherson.” Very little news is coming out of Kherson. Refugees are one of the few sources of information. Anastasia says that life is difficult, food is difficult and expensive and that sometimes people are “snatched from their homes, from their work or on the street”. EU warns of major attack in Donbas “next day” – live updates on Ukraine He is particularly worried about a Spaniard who appears to have disappeared. A total of 4.5 million people have fled the country since the invasion began and like two million Ukrainians before them, Anastasia, Ksusha and Maria will head to Poland. Bus driver Yuri Kajuta, 49, made the trip twice a day last month. He claims to have transported almost 2,000 people to safety. He says that the Russian guards at the checkpoints are used to him and the authorities do not mind him. Image: Yuri Kajuta continues to drive his bus through Russian checkpoints, risking his life on every trip He told me: “They said ‘we are not holding anyone, you can leave, we will just change the lock on your door and Crimean people from the villages will come to live in Hersonissos and there will be a popular democracy of Hersonissos”. “ Follow the Daily Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker For refugees, Bashtanka is the first stop on the journey to an uncertain future. But the small town is not safe. Many fled when Russians tried to seize the city last month, destroying dozens of homes. Smaller cities do not have the same levels of defense as larger cities in Ukraine. But when the Russians tried to take it last month, they suffered an astonishing and convincing defeat. Image: Small towns like Bashtanka and Kherson do not have the defense to withstand the war The talk in the city is about Russians rallying for another effort, but the pregnant mother of six, Iryna Mohylevska, who lives in a house that almost collapsed from the bombing, does not know what to do. He told me: “I’m worried. I do not know where to go and what will happen. When we heard the explosion, we were afraid that it might hit us, because there are many people with children on our way.” Three houses opposite hers were destroyed by bombing in March. Seven more roofs had been blown up and debris had peppered on Iryna’s front door. Three young children are playing in the house that has cracks in the walls and the windows are broken. He had to repair the roof. Staying or leaving is a requirement for so many. But for the Uri bus driver, there is only one option – to return through the Russian checkpoints and pick up more people.
