Ukraine, Italian in Donetsk: “This is war, they are bombing relentlessly”

“Here it is war and no one can do anything to solve it”. So speaks an Italian who moved to Ukraine with his family 18 years ago and now lives in Donetsk, the capital of one of the two self-proclaimed Donbass republics recognized yesterday by Russia. “In the city the situation is calm, but outside it is more critical. The bombing has not stopped for three to four days and towards the border you can hear the sound of bombs falling”, he says in an interview with Adnkronos, in which he explains as in Donetsk there has been “a de facto invasion” for eight years, since the Donbass war broke out between the Ukrainian forces and the pro-Russian separatists. “The conflict has been going on for eight years now, although the clashes have not always had the same intensity. My grandson was born here in 2014 and it can be said that he is a child of war”, says the man, who has preferred maintain anonymity and that excludes for the time being to leave Donetsk. “We stay here as long as it is possible to resist. It is not easy to move after 18 years and we cannot load everything on a plane and leave”, he declares, also highlighting the difficulties of moving in an “area where there is fighting”. In 8 years international community has done nothing “I can’t get out of Ukraine because it is now difficult to reach Kiev. The only road is through the border with Russia, but you need a visa and therefore it is difficult to move”, says the Italian, who he specifies that he has no contact with our diplomatic representatives, “even if every now and then we receive a message from the foreign ministry asking us to leave, but it’s not that easy”. The man then comments on the words spoken last night by Russian President Vladimir Putin who in his opinion, they “created the greatest earthquake of the 21st century. In seconds, diplomacy from around the world moved.” But for the Italian the bitterness remains for a situation that could have been resolved if the international community in recent years “had done something”. “In eight years an agreement has not been found, everyone has done their own business, but in the last month they have all arrived in Ukraine – he concludes – But what have they solved? Now the world is different and we will have to deal with all other bases with Putin “.