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KHERSON (Ukraine), Nov. 26 (AP) — Hundreds of civilians fleeing shelling poured out of the southern Ukrainian city on Saturday as they celebrated taking back the city just weeks ago.
Hundreds of people fled Kherson as the country honored the millions of Ukrainians who died in a Stalin-era famine and sought to ensure Russia’s war in Ukraine did not deprive the rest of the world of vital food exports.
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On the outskirts of the city of Kherson, a line of trucks, vans and cars, some towing or transporting pets and other items, stretched for a kilometer or more.
Days of intense shelling by Russian troops led to a bittersweet flight: many civilians were glad their city was retaken, but sadly they couldn’t stay.
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“It’s a pity that we are leaving our home,” said Yevhen Yankov, sitting in a van that was moving slowly. “Now we are free, but we have to leave because there is shelling and there are dead people in the crowd.”
Svitlana Romanivna poked her head out from behind, adding: “We’ve been through real hell. Our neighborhood is on fire and it’s been a nightmare. Everything is burning.”
Emilie Fourrey, emergency program coordinator for Ukrainian aid group Doctors Without Borders, said the evacuation of 400 patients at the Kherson psychiatric hospital, located near the power plant and near the front lines, began on Thursday and will continue in the future. Continue for a few days.
Kherson is one of many cities that have faced an onslaught of Russian artillery fire and drone strikes in recent days, with shelling particularly intense there. Elsewhere, despite reports of civilian casualties, shelling focused on infrastructure. Maintenance crews across the country were scrambling Saturday to restore heat, power and water services that had been left in disrepair by the blast.
In the capital Kyiv, President Vladimir Zelensky presided over a busy day of diplomacy, welcoming several EU leaders to meet and chairing an “international food security summit” to discuss the country’s food security and agricultural exports.
The prime ministers of Belgium, Poland and Lithuania, as well as the president of Hungary, were in person, and many others participated via video.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmikhal said that despite Ukraine’s own financial difficulties, it had allocated 900 million hryvnia ($24 million) to buy corn for Yemen, Sudan, Kenya and Nigeria.
“Ukraine knows what hunger is and we don’t want people dying again in the 21st century because of Russia and its inhuman methods,” he was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
The reminder about food supplies is timely: Ukrainians are marking the 90th anniversary of the start of “The Great Famine,” or the Great Famine, which killed more than 300 people in two years as the Soviet government under dictator Joseph Stalin confiscated food and grain supplies. Ten thousand people died and many Ukrainians were deported.
German Chancellor Olaf Schulz compared the commemoration to the impact of the Ukraine war on world markets. Ukrainian exports have resumed under a UN-brokered agreement, but remain well below pre-war levels, pushing up global prices.
“Today, we are united that hunger must never again be used as a weapon,” Scholz said in a video message. “That’s why we cannot tolerate what we are witnessing: the worst global food crisis in years, with abhorrent consequences for millions – from Afghanistan to Madagascar, from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa. “
Germany, together with the United Nations World Food Programme, will provide an additional 15 million euros for further food shipments from Ukraine, he said.
Schulz spoke as a cross-party group of lawmakers in Germany was seeking to pass a parliamentary resolution next week that would recognize the 1930s famine as “genocide.”
Ukraine and Russia supplied about 30 percent of global wheat and barley exports, 20 percent of corn and more than 50 percent of sunflower oil last year, the United Nations said.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko posted on the Telegram social network on Saturday that more than 3,000 specialists from a local utility company continued to work “around the clock” and had managed to restore heating to more than 90% of residential buildings. While about a quarter of Kyiv residents remain without power, he said water has been restored to everyone in the city.
The race to restore power began as Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo met with Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Saturday.
“It could be a tough winter,” he said, alluding to generators from Belgium, support for Ukrainian schools and hospitals, and military aid such as “fuel, machine guns, artillery, etc.”
“By standing here, we hope we can provide you with hope and resilience to get you through this difficult time.” (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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