From: BBC by Orla Guerin – Senior International Correspondent
The BBC joined Anton Yaremchuk as he evacuated people from the city of Pokrovsk
As he prepares to set off on another rescue mission on Ukraine’s eastern front, 35-year-old Anton Yaremchuk is grateful for the fog. It will shield him and his colleague Pylyp from Russian drones hunting from the skies. His armoured van will provide more protection – but only up to a point. Every journey could be the last.
In December shrapnel from a drone attack ripped through a clearly marked armoured vehicle used by his team, causing injuries but no deaths.
“We were extremely lucky,” he says.
Anton’s regular destination these days is the industrial city of Pokrovsk, which he says is “being attacked night and day”.
Russian forces are closing in – they are now less than 2km (1.2 miles) away.
“The last few days we were coming in, there was hell,” Anton tells us. “There are around 7,000 people still there. We’ll try to get some people out of that nightmare.”
He’s been doing just that since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
With his country under attack, the Ukrainian cinematographer left his life and career in Berlin, came home and co-founded a small aid organisation, Base UA. Since then, he and his team have managed to get about 3,000 civilians out of harm’s way, taking them away from front lines to safer areas.
Voice of Ukraine 