HOLA PRYSTAN, Ukraine: Pensioner Maria Mikhailovna says she was woken by her husband in the middle of the night to find their belongings underwater after the collapse of Ukraine’s giant Nova Kakhovka Dam.
“The water in the house was at waist level. At midnight everything had been dry — both inside and outside,” said the 73-year-old, who walks slowly with the help of a stick.
“We can hardly walk. We went outside and were lucky that there were passers-by. They helped us to get to the ‘Vostok’ shop. Then we limped on to our friends,” she told Reuters.
With water snapping at their heels, she and her husband then moved on from place to place, she said in the town of Hola Prystan in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, adding that she was grateful to her rescuers.
They were brought to safety with other pensioners on Thursday in a rubber boat crewed by rescuers from Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry.
Russian forces took control of Hola Prystan, a town where around 13,000 people once lived, last year as part of what Moscow calls its “special military operation.”
After the vast Soviet-era Kakhovka Dam crumbled on Tuesday — a human and ecological disaster which Russia and Ukraine have blamed on each other — rubber dinghies have replaced cars in the town’s streets.
Animals and people sheltered on roofs on Thursday: in one surreal scene a small group of goats and hens stood on what looked like part of a roof surrounded by floodwater as rescuers in dinghies passed by.
The first one or two storys of houses and people’s yards were underwater and an emerald green church was semi-submerged, with the tops of trees poking out from the water in places.
Rescuers in boats scoured the town for survivors, shouting out the addresses they had checked to one another.
Many of those rescued appeared elderly but small children and their mothers were also among those helped to safety.
One woman had her pet cat in their bag and one elderly lady clutched a birdcage as she was ferried to dry land.
A woman who gave her name as Oksana held back tears as she and her daughter were evacuated in a boat with their two pet dogs.
“We ended up at the kindergarten because our house was carried away by a torrent of water,” said Oksana, as her daughter turned her head away to sob.
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’Our house was carried away’ — flood survivors in Russian-held Ukraine speak of their escape
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’Our house was carried away’ — flood survivors in Russian-held Ukraine speak of their escape
- "The water in the house was at waist level. At midnight everything had been dry - both inside and outside," said the 73-year-old
- Russian forces took control of Hola Prystan last year as part of what Moscow calls its "special military operation"
North Korean POWs in Ukraine seeking ‘new life’ in South
SEOUL: Two North Korean prisoners of war held by Ukraine have said they hope to start a “new life” in South Korea, according to a letter seen by AFP on Wednesday.
Previous reports have indicated that the two men, held captive by Kyiv since January after sustaining injuries on the battlefield, were seeking to defect to the South.
But the letter represents the first time the two of them have said so in their own words.
“Thanks to the support of the South Korean people, new dreams and aspirations have begun to take root,” the two soldiers wrote in a letter dated late October to a Seoul-based rights group which shared it with AFP this week.
North Korea has sent thousands of troops to support Russia’s nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine, according to South Korean and Western intelligence agencies.
At least 600 have died and thousands more have sustained injuries, according to South Korean estimates.
Analysts say North Korea is receiving financial aid, military technology and food and energy supplies from Russia in return.
North Korean soldiers are instructed to kill themselves rather than be taken prisoner, according to South Korea’s intelligence service.
In the letter, the two prisoners thanked those working on their behalf “for encouraging us and seeing this situation not as a tragedy but as the beginning of a new life.”
“We firmly believe that we are never alone, and we think of those in South Korea as our own parents and siblings and have decided to go into their embrace,” they wrote.
The letter is signed by the two soldiers, whose names AFP has been asked to withhold to protect their safety.
- ‘Death sentence’ -
Under South Korea’s constitution, all Koreans — including those in the North — are considered citizens, and Seoul has said this applies to any troops captured in Ukraine.
The letter was delivered during an interview for a documentary film coordinated by the Gyeore-eol Nation United (GNU) rights group, which works to help North Korean defectors.
That interview took place at an undisclosed facility in Kyiv where the two POWs are being held after they were captured.
During the interview, the pair also pleaded to be sent to the South, according to GNU chief Jang Se-yul, himself a North Korean defector who fled the isolated country in the 2000s.
The video has not yet been made public but is expected to be released next month, Jang said.
Yu Yong-weon, a lawmaker who met with the prisoners during a visit to Ukraine in February, said the prisoners had described witnessing wounded comrades kill themselves with grenades.
Sending the soldiers back to the North would constitute “a death sentence,” Yu said.
South Korea’s foreign ministry has urged Ukraine not to “forcibly repatriate North Korean prisoners of war against their will” and has asked that their desire to go to the South be respected.
Previous reports have indicated that the two men, held captive by Kyiv since January after sustaining injuries on the battlefield, were seeking to defect to the South.
But the letter represents the first time the two of them have said so in their own words.
“Thanks to the support of the South Korean people, new dreams and aspirations have begun to take root,” the two soldiers wrote in a letter dated late October to a Seoul-based rights group which shared it with AFP this week.
North Korea has sent thousands of troops to support Russia’s nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine, according to South Korean and Western intelligence agencies.
At least 600 have died and thousands more have sustained injuries, according to South Korean estimates.
Analysts say North Korea is receiving financial aid, military technology and food and energy supplies from Russia in return.
North Korean soldiers are instructed to kill themselves rather than be taken prisoner, according to South Korea’s intelligence service.
In the letter, the two prisoners thanked those working on their behalf “for encouraging us and seeing this situation not as a tragedy but as the beginning of a new life.”
“We firmly believe that we are never alone, and we think of those in South Korea as our own parents and siblings and have decided to go into their embrace,” they wrote.
The letter is signed by the two soldiers, whose names AFP has been asked to withhold to protect their safety.
- ‘Death sentence’ -
Under South Korea’s constitution, all Koreans — including those in the North — are considered citizens, and Seoul has said this applies to any troops captured in Ukraine.
The letter was delivered during an interview for a documentary film coordinated by the Gyeore-eol Nation United (GNU) rights group, which works to help North Korean defectors.
That interview took place at an undisclosed facility in Kyiv where the two POWs are being held after they were captured.
During the interview, the pair also pleaded to be sent to the South, according to GNU chief Jang Se-yul, himself a North Korean defector who fled the isolated country in the 2000s.
The video has not yet been made public but is expected to be released next month, Jang said.
Yu Yong-weon, a lawmaker who met with the prisoners during a visit to Ukraine in February, said the prisoners had described witnessing wounded comrades kill themselves with grenades.
Sending the soldiers back to the North would constitute “a death sentence,” Yu said.
South Korea’s foreign ministry has urged Ukraine not to “forcibly repatriate North Korean prisoners of war against their will” and has asked that their desire to go to the South be respected.
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