‘It was terrible’: Ukrainian details horrors on evacuation train

CNN's Ivan Watson is aboard a train traveling from eastern Ukraine that is carrying evacuated Ukrainians. One civilian describes what life was like under Russian occupation in her town. #CNN #News

58 comments

  1. I see some people hiding their face its clear they don’t want on screen can we please respect privacy specially people at war

    1. All of these people should have left Ukraine a long time ago!!! We all heard Russia was going to start a war for months prior!!

      Same with all those people who wanted help leaving the middle east after our troops left. Those people should have left months prior!!! They knew we were about to leave!!! Smh.

    1. God bless Ukraine and Ukraine family and army 🙏❤️🙏
      Be strong 💪 🇺🇦☝️🇺🇦💪 keep fighting for justice and freedom for Ukraine people please all country help Ukraine 🙏💔🙏

  2. Not only did your nation not deserve all of this, not one human being deserves any of this cruelty. This has to stop.

  3. Bless you all, You dont deserve this, you have right on a save homeland, Stay strong , in your hope and believe to return, to a free nation,.

    1. To the Russian people: when you are starving and unemployed, know that it was Putin who is responsible for your plight. May God help you. It won’t be pretty.

  4. The smile from the boy at the end was perfect. So innocent and unaware of what his family most likely gave up just to make sure he was safe.

    1. @Mario Mario There are thousands like these witnesses. Thou shalt not bear false witness, Mario.
      If they named a city after you, would it be called Mariupol?

  5. It makes me so angry to see all this that it drives tears into my eyes. I think ukraine will not be the only country at war with russia in the future.

    1. All of these people should have left Ukraine a long time ago!!! We all heard Russia was going to start a war for months prior!!

      Same with all those people who wanted help leaving the middle east after our troops left. Those people should have left months prior!!! They knew we were about to leave!!! Smh.

    2. ​@Milky Way I don`t believe it is fair to blame them and make such accusations. Leaving all you have, together with your old mother or other relatives who can not and will not come with you, is not just a “strategically” or rational question when you are traumatized and everydays life seems like hell. Fear and lack of sleep gets you, every step could be a wrong one and mean the end, you loose every rational view about your situation, that`s normal.
      The simplest things are not possible or manageable anymore, smallest moves can mean biggest danger, every second everything can become much worse and total horror, it can mean torture and death – in such state of psyche one does not make such big decisions easily and “in time”. I know you mean that`s exactly why they should have gone so much earlier and from the logical view you are right (they themselves may think they shouldn`t have waited so long), BUT: They are traumatized, frightened and broken; and before it all got worse so very fast, they maybe just had the courage to stay and fight it out, go through it until it would be over, hopefully to their success. Who knows what will happen in detail if you wait a day or week longer? For civilians it is never easy to assess a war situation correctly and realistically.
      These women were/are responsible for other members of their family, they have children, and fleeing with children is so much more dangerous and difficult, it needs a power you don` t have anymore. And as we can hear and read everywhere: So many elder people would not want to leave their places and turn away from their villiges and towns, their country. I am not sure if there has ever been a folk who does such a brave and incredibly powerful fight against such an awful aggressor, also the women not matter if 18 or 80. Nobody should condemn them for leaving so late. Before the occupation all did not seem too bad, they knew such situation – and when the atrocities started it was very dangerous to go out and flee – as the women described. They could not know if they would be killed or worse on their way to the west, and they had and will have children and old people with them. As we learn women are being raped in front of their children, so what should they do or risk, staying a little longer or go? This can be the hardest decision you`l ever have to make in your life. Also, many women simply did not want to leave their men, sons, husbands because they still would be fighting and be in danger.

      Not everybody will have parents or grandparents who immediately would come wíth them and make it easier to go, some were lucky and fled much earlier, others stayed because it is a heartbreaking and incredibly hard decision to go and leave your parents or siblings alone when the enemy is in town – there is a big chance they could die and will never be seen again. So they waited another day or week and maybe the next one – to give their parents more time to make their decision (hopefully) and maybe get them out there as well. As we see: They waited until the danger had grown the highest. I do not see any thoughtlessness or stupidity in those women, I can surely imagine the brutal inner fight and conflict they would have fought out with the beloved people they finally had to leave behind. Sometimes a woman does not flee in time just because she has (and women in this world always have) some responsibility for children, old people, younger siblings, and the bond is strong. So such decision always is very indiviual and mostly depends not on the woman alone because she usually cares for more than herself like women always do. Some flee early enough – and got shot or deadly injured on the way and never reach a safe place. Others stay another week or month … and some drunk soldiers come to their house and that`s it. It`s all “russian roulette”.

    3. @Milky Way its not that simple. You dont just leave your home because you assume russia is goingto attack. What if you have a sick loved one? How do you support your family without working? Its simply ridiculous to say that they should have just left because of a threat

  6. Those stories just reminds me the stories my grandmothers told us, when russians have occupied Lithuania, Latvia and now the same happens again… looks like nothing have changed trough those years of our freedom from Russia… this is soooo sad and horrible….

  7. Thank you CNN and reporter for sharing this. The world has to be aware of what is going on, and maybe one day the Russians will watch these interviews and realize that these are not “fakes” as they call them. Slava Ukraini! God bless and give strength to Ukrainian people!!!

  8. In the 21st Centaury sad horrid events happening again, really, if I remember correctly World Leaders said ” We never let wars happen again” shocking. I feel so sad for all the Ukraine people at least they are moving to safety, what about people stuck in the occupied areas, God have mercy, Slava Ukraine.

    1. Those world leaders made a promise that they knew they couldn’t keep and they made that promise off of what they saw during WW2 and if anything they have kept a part of that promise and that is we haven’t seen another World War in 80 years and we know it. Because it is human nature and that nature will beat out any law. Cae in point all the smaller wars that has been happening and of course the conflict in Ukraine right now. Slava Ukraini

    1. Weird how many adults put that sorta thing 1st(for kicks ) in 1st world countries , off the coat tails from people who don’t want it, or anything close to it , lol!all while theyre (the ones not caring about attention )missing their entire bottom layer of human needs and rights lol!

  9. Thank you for this! It breaks my hear! Just a note, I notice a little boy peeking out from behind a curtain on the train and being excited to possibly be on TV! He was so cute, gave me a bit of hope that we will all get through this horror, one thing for sure is that it made me smile, which I desperately needed. In these awful moments we all need to take in these moments and appreciate the gift it brings in the moment!❤️🙏🏻😊

  10. I cannot comprehend how anyone can “get off” under such circumstances, despicable. I refuse to call them humans.

  11. This is all so surreal and so difficult to watch and understand.
    In 2022 how is this openly evil behavior by one individual leader not being stopped?
    It’s heartbreaking.

  12. How many 28 years old from some random small town can conduct an interview in another language (immigrants excepted). The Ukrainians just amaze me more and more every day.

    1. The illegal Mexicans come to America and we are either forced to learn Spanish to get many jobs so we can communicate with the. There are people that have lived here illegally for generations and don’t speak a word of English. When you call any company you have to press 1 for English and 2 for Spanish, often you have to listen through the Spanish first which infuriates me. These people would come in to pay their Section 8 (government subsidized rent) and bring their 5 and 6 yr old children to translate, as my boss refused to hire bilingual person for their convenience. These Ukrainians and Russians living in Ukraine speak sometimes 2 and 3 languages, so very impressive!

  13. Such a human tragedy. Great reporting by Ivan. Speaking to the people fleeing their homes in Russian must have put people at ease. Thank you for telling their stories.

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