Unifeed

UKRAINE / DISPLACED FAMILY

Some 4.4 million people in eastern Ukraine continue to live in the grips of an armed conflict that has divided their region, restricting freedom of movement and displacing many. Victor and his family now live just inside government-controlled territory, cut off from their former haunts which now lie beyond the no-man’s-land. UNHCR
d2117552
Video Length
00:02:40
Production Date
Asset Language
Geographic Subject
MAMS Id
2117552
Parent Id
2117552
Alternate Title
unifeed180327a
Description

STORY: UKRAINE / DISPLACED FAMILY
TRT: 2:40
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN’
LANGUAGE: RUSSIAN /NATS

DATELINE: 14 MARCH 2018, STAROHNATIVKA / VOLNOVAKHA, UKRAINE

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Shotlist

14 MARCH 2018, STAROHNATIVKA, UKRAINE

1. Various shots, Vladimir helping his disabled father Viktor to leave the house
2. Wide shot, Vladimir walk his father to a car
3. Close up, Vladimir shuts the door
4. Close up, Vladimir and his father inside a car
5. Tracking shot, driving through a village
6. Wide shot, car passing on a street
7. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vladimir, Viktor's son (man, Russian):
"I've had to transport my father five or six times like this already to the city of Volnovakha. I had to find a car, pay quite a lot of money. Getting a ride there can cost up to 400 or 500 hryvnia (20 USD).”

14 MARCH 2018, VOLNOVAKHA, UKRAINE

8. Med shot, Vladimir helping his father to walk
9. Pan left, queue outside the bank to Vladimir and Victor walking

14 MARCH 2018, STAROHNATIVKA, UKRAINE

10. Rack focus, flower to Vladimir’s partially destroyed house
11. Pan left, Vladimir walking toward the house
12. Wide shot, house and its surroundings
13. Various shots, Vladimir and his wife Oxana in courtyard
14. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vladimir, Viktor's son:
"The window was replaced. There are still craters in the walls. The roof hasn't been repaired. It's filled with holes."
15. Close up, Viktor in bed
16. Wide shot, Oxana talking to her father-in-law
17. UPSOUND (Russian) Oxana, :
"Get up!"
18. Various shots, Vladimir in the kitchen
19. Close up, Viktor's slippers
20. Wide shot, Oxana giving food to Viktor
21. Med shot, Viktor eating
22. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vladimir, Viktor's son:
"This war, whether it's this side or that side, it's the same people, the same."
23. Tilt up, cat and dog on the floor to Vladimir giving food to his father
24. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vladimir, Viktor's son:
"If the conflict was over, everything would be wide open. You could go wherever you wanted. Everything would be fine. Everything would be great."
25. Wide shot, Vladimir giving food to his father
26. Close up, Viktor eating
27. Med shot, Vladimir and Viktor talking in the kitchen

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Storyline

Some 4.4 million people in eastern Ukraine continue to live in the grips of an armed conflict that has divided their region, restricting freedom of movement and displacing many. Elderly Victor and his family now live just inside government-controlled territory, cut off from their former haunts which now lie beyond the no-man’s-land."

Viktor, a disabled eighty-year-old is on his way to the bank. He is one of Ukraine's 1.5 million internally displaced persons and has to visit state offices in person to claim a pension of $100 per month.

SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vladimir, Viktor's son (man, Russian):
"I've had to transport my father five or six times like this already to the city of Volnovakha. I had to find a car, pay quite a lot of money. Getting a ride there can cost up to 400 or 500 hryvnia (20 USD).”

The conflict that has divided eastern Ukraine in two since 2014 brought daily struggles for Viktor's family.

Their house sits on the government-controlled side of Donetsk region, within firing range of both sides.

"The window was replaced. There are still craters in the walls. The roof hasn't been repaired. It's filled with holes."

However, the shelling is not they biggest worry, but being cut off from places and people they care about.

Donetsk city, where they used to live, is now on the opposite side of the conflict line.

SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vladimir, Viktor's son:
"This war, whether it's this side or that side, it's the same people, the same."

4.4 million people are caught in the crosshairs of Ukraine's conflict

SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vladimir, Viktor's son:
"If the conflict was over, everything would be wide open. You could go wherever you wanted. Everything would be fine. Everything would be great."

For more than three years, restrictions on freedom of movement and the transfer of goods in eastern Ukraine along the so-called contact line have required civilians to expose themselves to security risks, long queues, and other physical challenges, further dividing a once-integrated community. Only a handful of official, and heavily militarized, checkpoints allow people to cross from one side of Donetsk region to the other; for Luhansk, there is only one crossing point. Transport lines have been cut, leading to the loss of jobs, and families must struggle to see each other. Even in "contact line" villages entirely under government control, blocked roads and damage has increased the isolation of residents in need. UNHCR advocates for increased crossing routes, which should be no-fire areas, and easier procedures to allow civilians to make the journey across the contact line.

During August-October 2017, over one million crossings through the checkpoints in the east took place each month on average, or approximately 30,000 crossings each day. In addition, an average of 200,000 crossings occurred over the administrative boundary with the Autonomous Republic of Crimea each month.

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