(Dan Tri) – Five White Angel teams consisting of local police familiar with the terrain travel back and forth to the red zone – a high-risk area – to provide aid and treatment to injured Ukrainians and evacuate the population.
Valeriia Chernikova, a member of the White Angels on the way from Liman to Torske in Ukraine on March 7 (Photo: Kyiv Independent).
An armored minibus speeds through rubble-strewn streets in Torske, a frontline village in the Donetsk region, near Russian positions.
The bus belonged to the White Angels – a special unit of the National Police of Ukraine – which was on its way to the village to provide aid, check on some remaining civilians.
The `White Angels` regularly returned to the village, which was in the line of Russian attack after the capture of Avdiivka, to see if anyone left behind had changed their mind about staying.
On this special day, no one wanted to leave.
Only a handful of older residents remain of Torske’s pre-conflict population of 700.
Serhii, who declined to reveal his last name, said he relies on gardening and humanitarian aid to support his family of three.
After fleeing to Kiev at the start of the full-blown conflict, his family returned due to difficulty finding work.
Valeriia Chernikova (right) and Dmytro Bilenets of the team ride together in an armored vehicle on the outskirts of Liman in Donetsk, Ukraine on March 7.
`What we lack the most is peace… and electricity,` Serhii told the Kyiv Independent newspaper.
A few streets away, a heavily damaged house lies quietly next to the ruins of what used to be a factory.
The couple waited outside for the White Angels.
`It’s a pity to leave everything behind. It’s damaged but it’s ours,` Olena told her.
Five White Angel teams consisting of local police familiar with the terrain travel back and forth to the red zone – a high-risk area – to provide aid and treat injured people after enemy attacks and evacuate people.
The team has evacuated more than 6,500 people, including 724 children, from frontline areas of the Donetsk region since its formation in December 2022.
Chernikova, a medical officer serving White Angel since day one, said she evacuated more than 100 adults, 40 children from front-line villages in the direction of Liman.
The next morning, the white minibus departed from Liman to the southeast on an evacuation mission.
The village is located 9km east of Serebryansky forest on the administrative border between Donetsk – Luhansk.
Russian forces are determined to gain control of the Serebryansky forest, considered the gateway to Liman, an important train hub but has been destroyed.
In the back of the minibus, where humanitarian aid boxes once stood, there are now two benches, a first aid kit, water and other essentials.
About 30 minutes later, the bus stopped near the gate of a red brick house with covered windows.
A small black dog started barking while Neklesa slowly boarded the bus with a flat-screen TV covered with a blanket, two plastic bags filled with documents, a change of clothes and canned food.
His wife and four children repeatedly persuaded Neklesa to leave whenever they spoke on the phone when cell service was sporadic in the area.
`It’s a pity to leave,` Neklesa told Kyiv Independent, adding that he built this house with his father decades ago.
He said six generations of his family lived in Zakitne and then lamented the almost daily enemy attacks that had reduced the village to rubble.
Part of a ruined house in Torske in Donetsk region, Ukraine on March 7 (Photo: Kyiv Independent).
`There is always hope (for a comeback). I hope that our (soldiers) will win,` Neklesa said.
Months ago, his family fled to western Lvov province after one of his three sons was hit in the head and neck by shrapnel in an enemy attack.
On the way to Liman, Neklesa winced in pain as the bus hurtled over a bumpy road.
Upon arriving at Liman, the White Angel’s evacuation mission was completed after assisting Neklesa into another white vehicle.
The charity Salvation Angels will transport him to Porkrosvk to catch the train to reunite with his family more than 900km to the west.
`I will hug and kiss (my loved ones when I reach them),` Neklesa said, holding back tears, then adding that he no longer wanted to remember the sound of the explosion.
Martin 
Daniel 
Jackson