一家６人、徒歩１２５キロの危険な旅　マリウポリ脱出

【ザポリージャＡＦＰ＝時事】ロシアの爆撃で壊滅的な被害を受けているウクライナ南東部の港湾都市マリウポリ。エウヘン・ティシチェンコさん（３７）とテチアナ・コミサロワさん（４０）夫婦は、６～１２歳の子ども４人を連れて、故郷を脱出する方法は一つしかないと覚悟を決めた──徒歩だ。（写真はウクライナ南部ザポリージャの鉄道駅でポーズを取る南東部マリウポリから徒歩で避難してきた一家。＜後列左から＞イワン君、テチアナ・コミサロワさん、エウヘン・ティシチェンコさん、＜前列左から＞ユリヤちゃん、アンナさん、オレクサンドル君）
　一家は２２日、南部ザポリージャで西へ向かう列車を待つ間にＡＦＰの取材に応じた。涙と笑いを交えながら、安全を求めて歩いた１２５キロに及ぶ奇跡の旅路を振り返った。
　夫婦は出発の数週間前から、ユリヤちゃん（６）、オレクサンドル君（８）、アンナさん（１０）、イワン君（１２）に、この先に待ち受ける旅の危険を説いた。「地下壕（ごう）にいた２か月間、これからどこへ行くかを説明した」とテチアナさん。「子どもたちは、冒険だと捉えていた」
　今月１７日、ついに動く時が来たと判断した。
　エウヘンさんとテチアナさんは緊張しながら、子どもたちを先導してアパートを出た。家族そろっての外出は、２月２４日のロシアの侵攻開始以来、初めてだった。
　目の前に広がっていたのは、破壊の限りを尽くした恐ろしい光景だった。
　地下室を抜け出して水や食料の調達に出ていた大人たちは、何が待ち受けているのか予期していた。だが、子どもたちは、砲弾の直撃を受けるアパートの地下にずっと隠れて暮らしていた。
　「周囲を見た子どもたちは、黙って歩いていた」とエウヘンさんは話した。「何を考えていたのかは、分からない。私たちと同じく、故郷の街がなくなってしまったことが信じられなかったのかもしれない」

■「どうしてロシアへ行かないんだ」
　避難の旅は出だしから「大変だった」とアンナさん。「自分で荷物を運ばなければいけなくて、とても重かった」
　初日にエウヘンさんが３輪の台車を見つけてからは、ずっと楽になった。一家は、さびてきしんだ音を立てる台車を「黄金の荷車」と呼んだ。
　「妻が末娘の乗った三輪車を押し、私は荷物を載せた台車を押した。荷物の上に子どもの１人が座ることもあった」とエウヘンさん。残る２人の子どもはエウヘンさんと並んで歩いた。
　４泊５日の旅の間、一家はロシア軍の検問所を幾つも通過した。ロシア兵には、親戚のところに向かっていると説明した。敵視せず、手を貸そうとさえした兵士もいた。ただ、「どこから来た？　 マリウポリから？　なぜこっちへ行くんだ。どうしてロシアへ行かないんだ」と毎回問われたという。
　夜は、道路沿いの民家に泊めてもらった。受け入れてくれた地元の人は、十分な食事も用意してくれた。
　日中は、何があろうと先へ進んだ。
　ザポリージャから約１００キロ離れたロシア軍の占領下にある町ポロヒを歩いていた時、一家に幸運がほほ笑んだ。野菜を売りにザポリージャへ向かう途中のドミトロ・ジルニコフさんが、車を止め、声を掛けてくれた。
　１２５キロ歩いてきた一家は、ジルニコフさんの古い小型トラックで旅を終えた。
　ジルニコフさんは、一家がロシアの支配地域を脱出してウクライナ兵を見たときの喜びようをよく覚えている。「一つ目の検問所を通過すると、みんな泣き出した」
　「私たちが目指したのは、子どもたちがウクライナで暮らせるというたった一つのことだ。この子たちはウクライナ人だ。他の国で暮らすなんて考えられない」とテチアナさんは強調する。
　一家は２２日、わずかな私物と共に、西部リビウ行きの満員列車に乗り込んだ。西部の都市イバノフランコフスクに移り住み、生活を立て直そうと考えている。
　「経験したことは決して忘れられないし、忘れてもならない。けれど、元気を出して、子どもたちを育てていかなければ」とエウヘンさん。
　アンナさんは、地獄と化したマリウポリから逃れた後の素朴な願いを口にした。「あんなふうじゃない町で暮らしたい。もちろん、ウクライナで」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/04/28-09:59）

As Russian bombardments devastated their hometown of Mariupol, Yevgen and Tetiana decided they had only one way to escape with their four children: on foot.
Talking Friday to AFP in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia as they waited for a train westwards, the family recounted through tears and laughter their miraculous 125-kilometre (80-mile) trek to safety.
For weeks as the bombing laid waste to Mariupol, the parents tried to prepare their children Yulia, 6, Oleksandr, 8, Anna, 10, and Ivan, 12, for the perilous journey they faced.
We explained to them for two months, while we were in the cellar, where we would go... We prepared them for this long journey, said Tetiana Komisarova, 40.
They saw it as an adventure.
Last Sunday, together with her husband Yevgen Tishchenko, a 37-year-old technician, they finally thought the time had come to make their move.
Nervously, they led the children out of their building. It was the first time they had all left together since the Russian invasion began on February 24.
Around them they found a terrifying scene of utter destruction.
When the kids saw, they walked in silence, Yevgen said.
I don't know what was going on in their heads. Maybe they too couldn't believe that our city no longer existed.
- Life underground -
The adults already had a sense of what awaited them. They had snuck out of the house to take food and water from bombed out shops and been confronted by the corpses littering the streets.
It seemed less frightening to die in a bombing raid than of hunger, said Tetiana.
A shell had hit the roof of their apartment block and For the children life had been lived entirely underground.
We brought them books in the basement. The light was so dim that I could hardly see, but they managed to read, Tetiana said.
Mischievous 10-year-old Anna described moments of lightness playing with friends from a neighbouring flat.
Sleeping on the concrete was not great, recalled the ponytailed girl.
She insisted bravely that when the bombs fell we weren't so scared.
The building was shaking a lot and there was a lot of dust, she said. It was not pleasant to breathe.
- Leaving Mariupol -
Finally leaving the basement and the city was hard, said Anna.
We had to carry our bags and they were heavy, she told AFP.
That was on the first day, at least, before her dad discovered what the family christened the golden cart.
In reality, it was a rusted and creaking three-wheeled trolley -- but it made the walk much easier.
My wife pushed our youngest girl on her tricycle. And I pushed the cart, often with one of the children perched on the bags, Yevgen said. The other two walked beside me.
In five days and four nights of travel, the family passed through numerous Russian checkpoints, telling the soldiers that they were heading to their relatives.
They didn't treat us as enemies, they tried to help, Yevgen said.
But every time they asked us: 'Where are you from? From Mariupol? But why are you going in this direction, why aren't you going to Russia?'
At night, the family slept in the homes of local people who opened their doors along the route and were well fed.
During the day, they moved on, against all odds.
Eventually they got lucky and came across Dmytro Zhirnikov, who was driving through Polohy, a Russian-occupied town located about 100 kilometres from Zaporizhzhia.
I saw this family pushing a cart on the side of the road, said Zhirnikov, who regularly travels Zaporizhzhia to sell the vegetables his family produces.
I stopped and told them to put their things in my trailer.
After 125 kilometres on foot, Tetiana, Yevgen, and their little ones finished their journey in his battered van.
Zhirnikov remembered the elation they felt when they emerged from Russian-controlled territory and saw Ukrainian soldiers.
When we passed the first checkpoint, everyone started crying, he said.
We had just one goal: that our children could live in Ukraine. They are Ukrainians, we can't imagine that they could live in another country, Tetiana insisted.
On Friday, the family crammed themselves and their meagre possessions into a crowded train heading for the western city of Lviv.
They then plan to move to Ivano-Frankivsk, another large city in western Ukraine, to try to rebuild a normal life.
I want to find a job. My wife will take care of the children and try to find them a school, Yevgen said.
We can never forget what we have been through. We must not. But we must keep our spirits up and raise our little ones.
Their daughter Anna described her own simple wishes after escaping the hell of Mariupol.
I want to live in a city that is not like that, she said. And in Ukraine.