“Here, the first times it was complicated but there, we got used to it”, confides Olena, 94 years old.
This great-grandmother has been living for a week near Meaux, in Seine-et-Marne, with a couple of volunteers.
On March 10, together with her granddaughter Maria and her great-grandson Danil, the family fled the hell of the Boutcha massacres.
In this martyred city, the withdrawal of Russian troops on April 2 gave way to scenes of horror that shocked the international community.
At least 400 people were murdered in the city.
“I could never have thought they would have been so inhumane.
They are monsters, monsters!
», Laments this old lady who experienced the Second World War: « I have already survived a war with the Germans.
The soldiers did not touch civilians.
And I thought it would be the same this time.
“The Russians were shooting at houses and people looking out the window,” Maria says, holding her phone.
At the risk of her life, she still took care to film the movement of Russian troops through a gap in her window.
“We ourselves witnessed people going to fetch water from the gas station in front of our house.
We saw a person on a motorcycle being shot at, with bottles, no weapons, nothing, ”says the red-haired mother.
For ten days, the whole family had to live in seclusion, locked up without running water, gas or electricity.
While some civilians were killed trying to get supplies, they managed to organize with neighbors to have access to a shared well and avoid venturing under Russian fire.
“The remaining problem was the cold,” says Maria.
-15°C with no other way to warm up than to slip by the fire.
Read also“The Russians opened fire on starving inhabitants”: Maria, a refugee in France, recounts the martyrdom of Boutcha
“We had no weapons, we were defenseless.
We were afraid to stay,” she recalls.
"And at my age, I decided to take a long trip," adds the nonagenarian.
6 days across Europe which led them to the pavilion of Alain, his wife and daughter, whom they met by chance.
“We are very well here, it's like a vacation.
We are welcomed by good people, ”rejoices the retiree.
