From Sports Halls to Temporary Accommodation Centres: Where Donbass Refugees Await Their Train
© Sputnik / Maksim Bogodvid
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Refugees are housed not only in border health resorts but also in children's camps. Taganrog, the first major city in the Rostov Region near the border with the DPR, is putting refugees up in the sports palace. However, people do not stay there long. Sputnik's correspondent visited the temporary accommodation centre.
Although the refugee accommodation centre has taken over the entire sports complex, not all the rooms are occupied by people arriving. At the entrance, there is a room where new arrivals can register: they are given documents confirming their status as temporary migrants, and they can also receive financial assistance of 10,000 roubles ($126), as ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The accommodation is divided into two halls: a large hall (for playing handball) and a small hall (where basketball is played). The entire space, about 600 square metres, is filled with folding beds and clean bedclothes. The facility can accommodate 450 people.
A general view shows a temporary accommodation facility organized at sports school No. 13 for people evacuated from the Donetsk People's Republic, in Taganrog, Rostov region, Russia
© Sputnik / Sergey Pivovarov
/ A canteen was opened especially for the refugees: it serves three meals a day and, according to those arriving, the food is delicious. You can see the menu right at the entrance.
DPR - refugees are placed in a point located in the sports palace
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But unlike other border camps and rest camps, refugees do not stay here forever. They spend no more than a day after registration, and within a few hours, they leave the centre on trains and are transported to other parts of Russia.
“We had crowds on the first day when the refugee centre opened. But when the trains started sending them regularly to other Russian cities, there were hardly any people left. Dozens of refugees are brought by bus, so people hardly take up any space. The halls are half empty now,” says Olga, an employee of the Krasny Kotelshchik Sports Palace, where the temporary accommodation centre is located.
Medical workers communicate with a girl at a temporary refugee accommodation facility organized at sports school No. 13 in Taganrog
© Sputnik / Maxim Bogodvid
/ There were indeed no more than 15 people in both halls and another 10 or so at the registration and financial aid office. Most were women with children, with a few pensioners as well.
“Today we only had one young boy - and he had terminal cancer. His mother drove him in a wheelchair. This morning an ambulance came and took him to the city hospital,” Olga added.
DPR - refugees are placed in a point located in the sports palace
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Among those staying was Marina, who joined the evacuation from Gorlovka with her one-year-old daughter and mother. She described how she arrived at the temporary accommodation centre in Taganrog.
“We put off leaving because we thought it would be all right. Then they started shelling Gorlovka and my husband was mobilised. At first, we were hiding in basements for three days during every shelling. Then we decided we wouldn't risk it anymore and were able to be evacuated. We got here, we are waiting for distribution. They say the train will be ready soon. But we don't know yet where exactly they will send us. But it doesn't matter: as long as it is safe for the child. We have nowhere else to go, nowhere to wait for help,” she said.
DPR - refugees are placed in a point located in the sports palace
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Asked whether refugees have any choice about where they are evacuated to, Marina added::
“No, it's up to whichever train you get to the accommodation centre. Otherwise, if people started picking and choosing, no one would go anywhere, there would be chaos. And, in general, wherever they are ready to take us, that's where we'll go. I heard yesterday they sent people to Nizhny Novgorod, Makhachkala, and Saratov.”
Rescuers stand outside a heating point for refugees from the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics near the railway station in Taganrog, Russia
© Sputnik / Maksim Bogodvid
/ According to Marina, the family left their home with only their documents and basic necessities.
“Of course, we packed everything for the child, and for ourselves, as much as we could between the shelling. When we reach the final evacuation point, we will think of something – we are not the only ones in this situation,” Marina added.
The evacuation of civilians from the Donbass territories to Russia continues in the same way despite the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin recognises the independence of the DPR and LPR. People are arriving at temporary accommodation centres in the Rostov Region and evacuees continue to fill the trains at the Taganrog-1 railway station.
Employees of the Emergency Situations Ministry and Russian Railways help an elderly woman to board a train at the Taganrog-1 railway station in the Rostov region, Russia
© Sputnik / Maksim Bogodvid
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