BNT team in Ukraine: Two buses with Bulgarians departed from Odessa

BNT colleagues Alexander Markov, Vladimir Bogdansky and Robert Vetsov are the only Bulgarian team in the epicentre of the conflict in Ukraine. After nearly 20 hours of travel and a sleepless night at a petrol station, the three eventually arrived in Odessa.

Our BNT team travelled along Ukraine's most heavily attacked southern flank from Mariupol to Odessa, two strategic ports on the Sea of Azov, but took multiple circuitous routes to avoid towns where there was evidence of fighting or Russian troops targeting them. It's a distance that should take an average of 9 hours to travel, but on the direct route.

The first two buses departed from the Bulgarian Consulate in Odessa. They will be used to evacuate the Bulgarians - about 100 people. The buses are half full.

Anyone wishing to be evacuated should contact the Situation Centre of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The first Bulgarians, who wished evacuation had arrived at the Bulgarian Consulate in Odessa two hours earlier. Figen was one of them. Figen is from Isperih and has been studying pharmacy in Odessa for almost six years. She decided to leave Ukraine after the shelling on the port in the city.

Gesho Lyubenov has come to collect his family. He is the second driver of one of the buses that will evacuate our compatriots.

According to Gesho, the unknown in leaving Ukraine is the crowding of people leaving the country at the border crossings with Romania.

He told BNT that they would be going through the border with Moldova. On arrival, he passed through the border with Romania, from where our team arrived. It will take about 4-5 hours to get out of the country.

Asya Aneva is leaving her beloved Ukraine with her child. Everything was normal in Odessa until recently, she says.

Bulgarian Consul General in the city, Svetoslav Ivanov, pointed out that more people from distant places in Ukraine are waiting to be evacuated.

Prof. Dimitar Velko from Odessa University is seeing off his son. The professor himself has decided to stay in the port city.

The local police escorted the Bulgarians.

There are about 50 Bulgarians signed up for tomorrow, but the lists are constantly changing as the situation changes. Some Bulgarians want to be written off as they have found alternative ways to leave Ukraine.

According to information we have, people with Bulgarian citizenship who are up to 55-65 years old cannot leave the country if they were born in Ukraine. The announced general mobilization is in force and this will prevent them from leaving.

Concrete fortifications are already being constructed at the eastern entrance to Odessa for police and military checkpoints to check traffic entering and leaving the city. Inside the city, the entrances to some buildings are being fortified with sandbags and other fortifications.

In all the towns BNT team passed through, queues of people could be seen outside banks and ATMs trying to withdraw money.

According to Alexander Markov, the situation in the country is becoming increasingly difficult for the civilian population. A curfew is in force, the amount of fuel that can be put in vehicles is limited. Thousands of people are trying to reach the borders with Romania, Moldova and Slovakia. Many are spending the night in their cars because of the ban on driving during the dark hours, which is what happened to the BNT team.

It is impossible to cross the main road from Mariupol to Odessa. The Russian forces that entered from Crimea are heading towards Kherson and Meritopol. From Kherson, according to local authorities, Russian forces are beginning to move towards Nikolaev. People of Bulgarian origin from Kherson have already evacuated to Varna, but their spouses have stayed behind to join the ranks of the Ukrainian army. Our BNT team had to bypass the town 70 km to the north late last night. Several times it passed by a column of military vehicles heading in that direction of fighting.

A lot of people pass by on that road. They are in the same situation. Some of them are not heading towards Kiev, but towards Lviv

The second day of the Russian military operation started at 4.00 this morning.

In the north near Kiev, a Russian tank column was stopped near the town of Ivankov after the Ukrainian army blew up a bridge to stop that advance. The capital itself has been targetted by missiles, a Russian plane has been shot down, an apartment building has been damaged.

Чуйте последните новини, където и да сте!
Последвайте ни във Facebook и Instagram
Следете и канала на БНТ в YouTube
Вече може да ни гледате и в TikTok
Намерете ни в Google News