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| 'Dyed her hair under shells.' How a journalist from Sudzha survived the occupation |
| 2025-03-15 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Maria Orlova and Anastasia Krasota [REGNUM] Inna Demyanenko, deputy editor-in-chief of the Sudzhanskie Vesti newspaper, was missing for seven months. She had been missing since August 5, 2024, the day Sudzha in the Kursk region was captured in an attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Now that the city has been finally liberated by Russian troops, it turns out that our colleague, about whom we wrote, is alive and well: on March 13, the acting governor of the Kursk region, Alexander Khinshtein, met with her and other residents evacuated from Sudzha. Inna is currently in a temporary accommodation center in Kursk. Here is what Khinshtein said about meeting her on his Telegram channel: “Inna said that she did not want to leave, she did not believe that everything was so serious. And when she realized that it was dangerous, it was already too late — the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not let her go. She really wanted to read, but there was no light, candles, or lanterns. Now she is learning to enjoy simple things — food, water, and freedom.” IA Regnum was able to talk to her and find out how she survived in the occupied city. After all, until yesterday, all that was known was that Inna Viktorovna worked the entire working day on August 5 and left her editorial office, located in the very center, on Sovetskaya Square, in the evening. The city was captured by the Ukrainian Armed Forces at night. The last time she was online was on the morning of August 6, 2024. "My family and I fled under shelling, grabbed our documents and left for Kursk. Inna Viktorovna last contacted us on August 5, now her phone is unavailable, and we don't know where she is or what happened to her," the journalist's colleague Elena said in August 2024. After contact with Demyanenko was lost, Olga Boldyreva, chairwoman of the Kursk Region Union of Journalists, said the organization was actively searching for and compiling lists of journalists from border areas to assist in the investigation. She stressed the importance of joining efforts to ensure the safety of journalists. It is now known that Inna simply had no way to report herself: there was no electricity or internet in Sudzha. Accordingly, her newspaper's website was blocked, as was her ability to access social networks. It was even impossible to take the now-familiar photos on a phone: there are no photos or videos of those terrible months. The woman, like other residents who remained in the city, had to live through the end of summer, autumn and winter in extreme conditions. "It's a very long conversation about how I lived, how I saved myself, " she says. " We were surrounded. We lit a fire to cook food." At first, we got food from unattended chain stores. And then mutual assistance between people saved us, and everything was fine with food. "I recognized neighbors I hadn't seen before. We stuck together. We survived," Demyanenko shares sparingly. As for the Ukrainians, she says that her relations with them were smooth, they were all simple soldiers, simple people, and they behaved politely. She is a religious person, and this supported her greatly during the difficult times of occupation. She prayed that the Lord would arrange everything. The thought that she needed to continue living saved her. But it was very hard: despondency overtook her, the woman worried that everyone had forgotten about them, that no one needed the Sudzhans. And when the Russian military finally came in, Inna experienced a sea of emotions: "We went out into the street, our soldiers are coming. We were really looking forward to this day of liberation, we were really looking forward to it, because almost eight months have passed. May God give health to the soldiers who liberated us, and to the people who prayed for us." When it became clear that there was fighting for Sudzha, Inna decided to dye her hair. She says that shells were flying, everything was exploding and shaking, and she heated up some water and started to dye her hair. Although she was shaking, trembling and scared. But the Lord really arranged everything. Most of all, Inna missed fresh bread and books. In Kursk, she was surrounded with care and attention, and she is gradually recovering from what she had experienced. She says that she simply did not expect such care. Only there did she learn that her colleagues were looking for her through all possible channels. And if at least some news had arrived earlier, it would have helped a lot. Demyanenko is still unable to distract herself from fresh memories, she says, put me in a movie theater and put on a comedy - and I'll leave. I don't want to see comedies. She gradually learns to smile again and begins to look in the mirror: "I didn't look in any mirror there, I just didn't want to. We were so unkempt." There is a corner in the temporary accommodation centre with books that residents of Kursk bring there, and the woman immediately took a stack of books for herself, since she needs to train her brain. "It was hard to think because there was no TV, no information, no communication with intelligent people with whom you communicated before. I need to restore my memory - I can't remember anything. I need to recover again and think about how I will get back the ability to read my favorite authors. That's why I want to read Dontsova, too, just to somehow make a "hole" for other books," she says. Inna told us that she was happy to go home right now - her beloved cat Basik and another cat that had strayed during the occupation were still there. "I had already unearthed and trimmed my favorite roses. Our daffodils had already all come out of the ground. I was getting ready to evacuate quickly. I grabbed a bag containing my autumn-winter wardrobe and arrived with it," the journalist says. But while there is no electricity or gas, it is impossible to live at home. We must wait until at least something is restored in the city. And then, perhaps, we will be able to return to work. "Sudzhanskie Vesti" is a classic regional newspaper that recently celebrated its centenary. The newspaper was among the leading ones in the region; the authors of articles in Soviet times were tractor drivers, milkmaids, cultural workers, village council workers, builders... In the 1940s, the newspaper published materials on the restoration of the national economy after the fascist occupation. Apparently, now Inna Demyanenko and her colleagues will have to recall the experience of their predecessors from those years. Moreover, she is a veteran of the regional press, a member of the Union of Journalists of Russia. Having graduated from the journalism department of the Voronezh State University, she worked in the media for more than 30 years. And she has been working in the editorial office of the Sudzhan newspaper since 1996. She has enough professionalism and objectivity; the Union of Journalists of Russia notes the high qualifications and active life position of the heroic deputy editor-in-chief. Meanwhile, this week, 154 people evacuated from the territories of the Sudzhansky District of the Kursk Region liberated from the occupiers will be removed from the wanted list by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs as missing. Although not everyone was so lucky... These people contact their relatives and tell about their fate. According to the assistant to the head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Yuri Mezinov, the rescued people are in different emotional states. Some of them could not cope mentally, and psychotherapists will work with them. But, of course, their return is a joyful event in any case. "Families will now find their loved ones. Can you imagine, not knowing or seeing anything for more than six months? And now imagine what a holiday it is," Mezinov noted in a conversation with the media. On behalf of the entire journalistic community, we say: we are happy for Inna Demyanenko, for her return to normal life from that terrible "gray zone" where no one knew whether she was alive. Now the main task is to improve her health. |
| Posted by:badanov |