Civilians — plus two anxious meerkats — endure searches and shelling as they flee Russia-occupied Kherson

“For me, this was already the fifth try to depart the managed territory. The earlier 4 instances it did not work out,” he informed CNN.

“What shocked me was that out of the blue Russians allow us to undergo checkpoint with none examination,” he stated. He had heard tales of in depth checks, telephones being examined and property stolen.

Yulia Bondarenko was additionally within the convoy and he or she additionally anticipated the Russians to take issues. “Evacuated folks learn about this from Telegram chats and do not even take something beneficial with them,” she stated.

“Russians nearly at all times ask for cigarettes and lighters,” she stated. Electronics have been usually confiscated too — power-banks and reminiscence playing cards, for instance. However “smartphones are typically not taken away by Russians,” Bondarenko stated, “though they’re carefully inspected: They examine messages and photograph galleries.”

Bondarenko stated that others had informed her the Russians would usually power folks to take off their garments as a result of they “are in search of tattoos of nationalist content material. Everyone seems to be nicely conscious of this, and it’s unlikely that nationalists with tattoos will attempt to go away the area this fashion. It’s a very huge threat.”

The convoy leaving Beryslav had some 200 automobiles — one minibus for a dozen folks was full of double that quantity, Arkadiy stated.

The journey took them by open, flat countryside on minor roads. However simply after it handed the ultimate Russian checkpoint, the column of some 200 automobiles got here underneath fireplace close to a spot known as Davydiv Brid, the place Russian management ends.

Arkadiy stated two shells landed concurrently. Autos forward of him have been peppered with shrapnel — tires shredded and windshields shattered. Seven or eight vehicles have been badly broken, however bushes along with the street absorbed a few of the impression.

“Everybody instantly started to cover behind the vehicles. Everybody was scared, folks with youngsters of their arms. The kids screamed, even the lads have been panicking,” Arkadiy stated.

Bondarenko, who was in the identical convoy, informed CNN that they’d simply cleared the final Russian checkpoint when “folks began working and hiding. However we stayed within the automotive, we had lots of animals. We could not take all of them out without delay.”

Bondarenko’s menagerie included canines, cats — and two meerkats. The meerkats had been rescued after a petting zoo in Kherson was shelled.

After the shelling, Bondarenko stated: “We drove in a short time. Folks from the vehicles that have been hit have been picked up by different folks from the column.”

It is nonetheless unclear the place the shelling got here from. Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the Kryvyi Rih navy administration, stated on Thursday that Russian artillery had fired on the column of automobiles and that two folks had obtained shrapnel wounds.

Others have associated equally harrowing escapes from Kherson. Katerina Torgunova lived together with her husband and 3-year previous daughter within the city of Oleshky.

The day they left, she stated, “We handed the primary two checkpoints comparatively calmly, and on the third checkpoint, we had big issues. The Russians began firing flash flares into the air as we approached them.”

“Then we have been pulled out of the automotive, they began to curse us. My husband was searched for a very long time,” she stated.

Some spoke of being on the street for 2 days looking for a means out of Kherson.

Julia Kartuzova and her two youngsters needed to sleep in a single day in a kindergarten as they tried to search out an escape route.

Then got here what she and others name the “grey zone” — the no man’s land between Russian and Ukrainian management.

“There are fights occurring. It was very harmful there as a result of the shells fell proper there, 100 meters from our automotive,” Kartuzova stated. “We misplaced depend of what number of checkpoints we needed to undergo. There will need to have been greater than 100 in whole.”

Arkadiy stated the principle routes out of Kherson to Mykolaiv, which remains to be in Ukrainian palms, are closely broken and infrequently impassable. He had heard that 15 vehicles had been shelled on the principle street, which has seen intense preventing.

Hennadii Lahuta, head of Kherson regional navy administration, stated the Russians haven’t accredited a single “inexperienced hall” for evacuation from Kherson for the reason that starting of the occupation. For per week in the beginning of Could, Lahuta stated, the Russians had blocked the route taken by Arkadiy and others.

On Could 11, the Russians allowed folks to make use of that route once more, which explains the sudden mass exodus.

As for the lives they left behind, the evacuees stated the scenario in Kherson was turning into more durable.

Arkadiy informed CNN: “There’s nonetheless a lot of pro-Ukrainian folks in Kherson.”

He attended protests there in March. The Russians had been on edge and had thrown stun grenades with out provocation, he informed CNN.

“At one of many greater rallies in Kherson metropolis, a column of armored automobiles had arrived to disperse the gang. There was no particular chief of those protests, all of us simply wished a greater future for our kids,” Arkadiy stated.

Arkadiy stated he had spoken at rallies and had then been detained and brought to a navy base that the Russians had taken over.

“They attempt to co-opt everybody they catch. Their thought is: If the opinion chief is on their facet, it is rather worthwhile, it’s a lot better than simply capturing him,” he stated.

“I managed to persuade them that I’d cooperate with them,” Arkadiy stated, “and one of many officers informed me, ‘Now you’re supporting Soviet energy.’ Think about what is going on on of their head.”

The evacuees try to begin over in areas past Russian management, however the battle has adopted them.

Kartuzova and her youngsters ended up in Odesa, the place they discovered themselves in a basement as cruise missiles struck the southern port metropolis on Could 9.

“Through the bombing, I attempted to search out somebody to message with. And folks in Mykolaiv corresponded with me, supported me,” she stated.

Hours later, Mykolaiv was shelled and Kartuzova stated she “corresponded with them and supported them for the half evening. It is loopy.”

Not everybody has settled away from residence. Torgunova stated her husband had gone again to Oleshky regardless of his expertise by the hands of Russian troops: “We’ve got a home there, he went again to take care of it.”

The meerkats, nevertheless, have tailored to a brand new life in Kyiv.