Leave your comments
KREMENCHUK, Ukraine (AP) — How do you cry when no bodies are found?How do you move forward when the user you enjoyed disappeared in seconds?These are some of the unthinkable questions that many citizens of Kremenchuk now face. after a Russian airstrike leveled a busy shopping mall.
Many hoped that the war would not reach their city. Since the invasion, checkpoints had been erected on the front of the city. Sirens from air raids howled from time to time. There were two strikes, causing no casualties, at an oil refinery on the outskirts of the city. But for the citizens of Kremenchuk, a windy city on the banks of the Dnipro River in central Ukraine, many kilometers from the front line, the city presented them with a sense of relative security.
WATCH: NATO Takes Steps to Expand Alliance and Defenses to Counter Russia
Then a Russian cruise missile crashed into the Amstor mall, sparking a violent fire that burned the building and other people trapped inside for a few minutes.
Some had just stopped at the mall on their way home from work, to fix their phones or buy clothes. But before they could record what happened, the construction turned into a suffocating black glow, the internal chimney was so hot that it melted the steel. and glass
Survivors told the AP that at the time of impact, there were “hundreds” of other people inside the building. So far, another 18 people have been found dead, at least another 20 have been reported missing, while dozens are under intensive care. In the hours after the strike, local Telegram teams were filled with panicked messages asking for information about the missing girls, brothers and friends.
Among those still searching for his relative is Oleksandr Baybuza, whose brother-in-law, Kostiantyn Voznyi, was running through Amstor at the time of the attack.
Baybuza told the AP that the circle of relatives had no information on Voznyi’s whereabouts.
“Everyone expects him to be alive, to be injured somewhere. No one loses hope. Everyone is waiting for news. We are very worried,” Baybuza said, his face pale and exhausted.
When war broke out, Voznyi had sent his wife and children for protection abroad. He remained in Kremenchuk, unable to leave the country due to martial law, and ended up running in an electronics store in the middle aisle of the Amstor Mall. Oleksandr says witnesses saw him running there that afternoon.
The circle of relatives may not locate you in any local hospital. DNA samples were taken from Voznyi’s children and their father. Now the terrible wait begins.
Fourteen emergency facility psychologists are recently working at the blast site with families like Voznyi’s and survivors. Psychologists face a difficult task: the explosion was so strong that relatives may never find a clue to their loved ones.
Svitlana Rybalko, press secretary for the state emergency services, told the AP that along with the known dead, investigators had discovered the fragments of 8 other bodies. “The police can’t say for sure how many (victims) there are. locate the bodies still fragments of bodies. We are now cleaning up at the very epicenter of the explosion. Here we can hardly locate a body, as such.
Psychologists who paint families settle for the idea that they will never be reunited with their loved ones.
“The most important thing is that we don’t give them any additional hope. We are not saying that everything will be fine. That your loved ones will emerge alive from the rubble after several days. If we say it, they will have false hopes, false expectations,” says Yuliia Falieva, a psychologist with the State Emergency Service.
“It is vital that they settle for this truth as soon as possible,” said another psychologist, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. “It’s better to release feelings now than to buy them for later. “
Falieva says the main task of psychologists is to get back close to those who are suffering, to listen to them during this deeply traumatic time. support.
“We visually choose the other people who need help the most. It may be someone who is too excited, shaky, cries too much or behaves aggressively,” Falieva says, adding that she has helped other people with her children, former mall workers involved over her colleagues and concerned citizens.
READ MORE: Russians fight to encircle Ukraine’s last stronghold
On Wednesday morning, several other people still waiting for news of their loved ones stood in front of the wreckage of the mall. A young woguy sat on the ground cross-legged and cried, hiding his tears with black sunglasses. of psychologists. One of them, a guy who didn’t need to give his name, looked distressed as he looked at the ruins. He had brought yellow flowers to deposit at the nearby memorial. “I’m there, I almost died. ” he says, “I shouldn’t have come here, it’s a bad concept, I can’t even look at that. . . I need to kill those Russian scumbags. “
Like many locals who now come to watch the Amstor accident in silent disbelief, Falieva, an experienced crisis psychologist, is shocked.
“I’ve been racing for 20 years, but this is the first race of its kind. Before, we had crisis conditions similar to nature, collisions on the road. . . During those long days, we all felt this kind of shock, confusion. and anger
Kremenchuk, according to Ukrainian officials, serves as a reminder that as long as the country is at war, no position is secure. Iryna Venediktova, Ukraine’s prosecutor general, who visited the site of the explosion on Tuesday, said all citizens expect missiles to arrive “every minute” and “be ready. “
Psychologically, it is difficult for many to settle for the tragedy that has struck their nonviolent riverside people.
One resident, Dionysius Ipatov, said: “I still can’t believe that a war has occurred in our city. . . Why do all this? To non-violent citizens, to a non-violent settlement. I do not perceive the meaning of this war. . . What motivates these barbarians?
Thank you. Please, your inbox to confirm.
Thank you. Please, your inbox to confirm.