How the village lives, divided by the barbed wire of the Russian-Ukrainian border

Chertkovo village is located in Russia, Cretaceous - in Ukraine. Before the collapse of the USSR, it was one locality. And even after Ukraine gained independence, everything remained the same until Russian border guards built a fence and divided people at checkpoints.

Photo: frame video Present

Valentina Boldyreva comes out of her house to greet her 76-year-old sister who lives on the other side of Friendship of Peoples Street. They communicate through a fence with barbed wire that runs along the street.

“Day and night, our windows look at the wire like a prison. Although the border should be 10 kilometers away. Here's my sister coming out. How are we going to communicate with her?” Boldyreva is indignant.

Photo: video frame

This fence of barbed wire was built in the fall by Russian border guards. Now he divides two settlements: Cretaceous in Ukraine, and Chertkovo - in the Rostov region of Russia. Ironically, the fence was erected right in the middle of Druzhby Narodov Street. Valentina Boldyreva remained in the Cretaceous, her sister Raisa Yakovleva in Chertkovo. They have time to talk in two words - but only until the Ukrainian patrol appears.

“They’re not even allowed to talk!” says Raisa Yakovleva.

Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was one village, then the border passed right in the middle, winding almost between courtyards.

Photo: frame video Present

Even in the summer, people simply crossed the street and went to visit relatives, taking children to school at Chertkovo through three checkpoints. Now families are separated by a fence, and in line at the checkpoint you have to stand for hours.

Summer correspondent project Donbass. Reality filmed the construction of this fence. Now it's finished building.

Photo: frame video Present

Anatoly Pilipey comes to the checkpoint constantly - on the other side of the border he has a grandson and a daughter.

“They worked there, in Chertkovo, and worked from Chertkovo in Melovoy. This is how we lived. The Russians stopped me halfway. We are little bugs,” he says.

Photo: frame video Present

Many are now not only separated from their families, but also left without work. And people are leaving here: even after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the armed conflict in Donbass, the “Friendship of Peoples” continued. Now, as local residents say, the fence on this street has turned both villages into a prison. And people don't want to live behind barbed wire.

Recall that Ukraine partially banned entry for men from the territory of Russia to Ukraine. This is due to the fact that on November 26 the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine voted to impose martial law for a term of 30 days in the 10 regions of the country: Vinnitsa, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya, Mykolaiv, Odessa, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Kherson, as well as in the territory waters of the Azov-Kerch water area.

Decision on martial law received in connection with the act of aggression of Russia against Ukraine in the Kerch Strait. As a result of the illegal actions of the Russian security forces 25 November were captured three ships of the Ukrainian Navy and 24 captured Ukrainian soldiers. The Russians claim that the ships of the Ukrainian Navy invaded the "territorial waters of the Russian Federation." Ukrainians taken into custody until January 25 2019.

The US embassy responded to the imposition of martial law by issuing recommendations for US citizens in Ukraine, as well as calling on the EU to tighten sanctions against the Kremlin.

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