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Four civilians were killed by artillery as they queued to get out of Donetsk

As the war in eastern Ukraine enters its third year, the weapons are heavier and the losses more than in many months. 




(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)

It is Friday morning and the masonry church in the eastern Ukrainian village of Elenovka is filled to the brim. The Orthodox priest casts incense over the altar as he mumbles today's prayer through his thick, white beard.

KYL_1943_3300"We pray for all victims of the war, for those killed in the tragedy night through Wednesday, and for anyone going through the roadblocks," he says.

A choir of women sing. Powerful soldiers, with a sweat of sweat seeping through the room, bow their heads over their candles. Teenage girls cry under thin skirts.

The village commemorates the four civilians killed at the border crossing last night on Wednesday last week. They are the last victims of a war that has been stepping up sharply in recent weeks and days. This weekend, the UN reported on 9333 confirmed deaths since the war in eastern Ukraine began in April 2014. Half of these have been killed after the ceasefire was signed.

KYL_2708_4120The fateful night. In the trauma department in Donetsk, we get the story of one of the survivors of the car queue.

Night until Wednesday last week, Raia Dubova slept heavily in her Volkswagen Vito with her son Idima and three other relatives. They were supposed to cross the border the night before, after visiting the grave of his father in Donetsk. But when they reached the temporary boundary of the rebels, they saw that the queue had become much larger than it had been before. Now you had to wait for two days for the transition. This is a dangerous place to be. The ditches are mined, so a pea walk in the forest can mean death. At night, the sky is illuminated by the rockets fired between the front lines. But so far the artillery had not hit the kilometer long line of civilians. That would soon change.

Three cars – four dead. It was a little before three o'clock at night when mother Raia Dubova awoke abruptly. The artillery came straight at them. The three cars in front of her reacted lightning fast, and tried to turn around. That was their fate. Car number one exploded immediately. A father and a son died instantly. The explosion also tore off the roof of car number two, the shock waves hit the side of the car and the splinters killed the elderly man sitting in the driver's seat. In car number three, 54-year-old Elena sat with her husband. He barely survived, while she was killed when the splinters drilled into her head.

In the fourth car were Raia Dubova and the family. She never managed to start the car, but her 15-year-old son Idima opened the door. The splinters penetrated his shoulder.

He is now in one of Donetsk's many hospitals.

"He is scared, he is not allowed to sleep and he has a fever. His immune system is weak, "his mother whispers.

"We live in Ukraine, and we were only going to Donetsk to visit my father's grave. It will soon be two years since he died, 'mumbles the mother, returning to her son.

Screen Shot at 2016 05-11-15.55.41Concerned observers. In the last two weeks, Ukraine has written about several soldiers killed and up to 14 injured every day. At the same time, the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) reports more powerful weapons and more clashes with each passing week.

"The problem is that the parties are too close to each other. This means that tensions are rising, and there will be fierce battles, "said Alexander Hug, Deputy Head of the OSCE's Ukraine Mission.

The OSCE is set to observe whether the parties follow the ceasefire signed in Minsk in February 2015. According to the agreement, heavy weapons will be moved from the front line and mercenaries sent home. According to the OSCE, the weapon that killed the four civilians in the car queue was 122 millimeters of artillery. This is strictly forbidden under the armistice. Already two weeks before the incident, Hug was very worried about the situation:

"There are more heavy weapons now than before, and they appear where they should not be. "Both sides have committed themselves to stop using these weapons," said Hug.

Neighbor to the war. In Elenovka, a bumper, a plastic wreath and a handwritten poster with the inscription "We never forget" are the only things left after the incident. The most visible is actually what is not there – namely the car queue to Ukraine. Those who want to leave the rebel state must choose other, time-consuming and dangerous border crossings.

Neighbor Natasha Rasnaja looks out towards the empty highway.

"The border excludes us from friends and relatives. It's not natural. It should not have been like that, "says Rasnaja.

And closes the shattered garden gate.

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