'Miracle' Escape from Shelling in Ukraine Rebel City
Liliya had only just nipped out when the shells tore through her apartment block in Ukraine's rebel bastion Donetsk early Sunday.
"It's a miracle that I am still alive," the 62-year-old resident of Sportyvna Street told Agence France-Presse.
"I went out to see my sister who lives nearby at around 8 am; then the mortars hit our home," Liliya said.
"My flat is gutted. If I had still been there I would have been killed."
Leninsky district, just south of downtown Donetsk, has been hit regularly by artillery bombardments from the Ukrainian army camped out a few kilometers (miles) away. On Sunday it was the turn of those living on Liliya's street.
There are no apparent military targets in the immediate vicinity, but around a kilometer (half a mile) away there is a former student hostel occupied by rebels.
Some 5,400 people -- mainly civilians -- have been killed by fighting in east Ukraine between government troops and rebel forces since April, according to the United Nations.
Nearly a million people have fled the conflict, and Donetsk -- a bustling industrial hub just a year ago -- is now semi-deserted.
Rebels last month forced government troops out of the apocalyptic ruins of the city's international airport but the frontline is still only a few kilometers away.
- 'Almost non-stop bombardments' -
"For the past week, the bombardments have been almost non-stop every night. And then they fired this morning," Liliya said, holding up some shrapnel that she found in the ruins of her flat.
In front of her small two-story building, where some 60 mainly elderly people live, neighbors gathered to assess the damage.
The entrance door has been torn in half and the walls bear the scars of the shelling.
The hot water pipes that run up the outside of the house have been hit and are leaking.
"Did you see the cracks on the wall? Doesn't it look like it could all collapse?" worried Liliya.
A burnt-out van stands next to a mortar crater in the building's small courtyard.
But, despite the destruction, Liliya has no plans to leave what remains of her home.
"I'm retired but I still work as a guard in a factory next door. I can't move away," she said.
"And anyway, where would I go? I was born here and lived my whole life here."
- 'I can't stand it' -
The bombardment on Sunday came after a day and night of regular shelling and rocket fire from both Ukrainian positions several kilometers away and the rebel fighters.
"I can't stand living in my basement anymore. This morning we didn't even have time to get dressed before the mortars started falling," said local resident Marina, 53.
Liliya was not the only one who thought she was lucky to be alive.
Opposite her building, another small house was hit by a shell Sunday morning. The roof has collapsed into a pile of rubble.
"An old woman lives here. But by a stroke of luck her son evacuated her yesterday!" said family friend Valera.
"They didn't want to leave her alone in this house as the bombardments had cut off the electricity in the district."
Source: Agence France Presse
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