Civilians in Kramatorsk defy calls to evacuate

(12 Jul 2022) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS   Kramatorsk – 7 July 2022 1. Servicemen working near destroyed car 2. Firefighters spraying water on burned car 3. Servicemen in crater picking up debris 4. Close of blood on ground 5. Workers, with Red Cross sign in background, registering people for aid 6. Various of people carrying boxes of aid 7. People waiting outside building in queue 8. Kramatorsk resident, Lena Ravlis, waiting 9. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Lena Ravlis, 38, Kramatorsk resident: "I have no place to leave (to), I have no money to leave. We are here in a queue for humanitarian aid because there are no jobs anymore. We have no payment and no sources to survive." 10. Kramatorsk resident, Maria Savon, waiting 11. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Maria Savon, 85, Kramatorsk resident: "Nobody waits for anybody anywhere, even abroad or elsewhere. If you were born here, you should die here. We were born here and we will die here." 12. Man with bicycle waiting ASSOCIATED PRESS Kramatorsk - 6 July 2022 13. Kramatorsk resident, Valerii Ilchenko, looking through newspaper 14. Ilchenko talking to his neighbour 15. Various of Ilchenko walking to his apartment 16. Ilchenko sitting down in his apartment 17. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Valerii Ilchenko, 70, Kramatorsk resident: "I don't have anywhere to go and don't want to either. What would I do there? Here at least I can sit on the bench, I can watch TV. What should I do there? It makes sense if only I would be able to work." 18. Ilchenko watching TV 19. Close of Ilchenko 20. Close of TV showing a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 21. Ilchenko moving around apartment 22. Ilchenko showing photos of his son and grandson 23. Close of young Ilchenko portrait 24. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Valerii Ilchenko, 70, Kramatorsk resident: "Where would I run to when the sirens start? I have no basement, so where? In this building, we all stay right here." 25. Ilchenko moving to kitchen 26. Various of Ilchenko in kitchen 27. Ilchenko closing window 28. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Valerii Ilchenko, 70, Kramatorsk resident: "Let them leave. It's better than getting bombed. I only wish they knew where they were going. What if it's the same there as it is here. You can run from the bombs. But bombs are bombs, they don't pick and choose." 29. Potato blossom in front of Ilchenko's house ASSOCIATED PRESS Pokrovsk – 6 July 2022 30. Man standing on station in front of evacuation train 31. People in train 32. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Nataliia (last name not given), Sloviansk resident: "Even my youngest child is afraid of rockets. Our house was shaken (by an explosion wave) when rockets were flying. That's why we decided to leave. There was nothing else to do (but leave). There is war everywhere. I don't want my children to be killed." 33. Various of Nataliia holding child STORYLINE In the city of Kramatorsk in Ukraine's embattled Donetsk province, Valerii Ilchenko sits under the shade of the trees, working on a crossword puzzle. The 70-year-old widower now has difficulty walking, and this daily ritual in the fresh air gets him through the day. Just last week, the governor of Donetsk province urged the region's remaining residents to move to safer places in western Ukraine. But like many other civilians who have come under fire in the nearly 5-month-old war, Ilchenko has no intention of leaving - no matter how close the fighting gets. "I don't have anywhere to go and don't want to either. What would I do there?," he told The Associated Press in an interview in his one-room apartment where he lives alone. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   #ukrainecrisis #ukrainewar #kramatorsk You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...