“We didn’t flee the war for that”: two Ukrainian women beaten by a Russian near Monaco
Have two Ukrainian refugees been overtaken by the conflict with Russia on the Côte d’Azur? Alina and her mother Olena were beaten up Sunday evening around 10:30 p.m. while they were strolling quietly near the seaside in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. The perpetrator of the attack? A Russian, according to their testimony.
It all started on the avenue de la gare. The two women are walking towards the sea when a friend sends them a video. They look at it and listen to it together with the sound on the loudspeaker. “It was Ukrainian music. The lyrics of the song said: ‘The world would be a better place without a Russian army'”says Olena.
The blows of full wind
Words far from being to the liking of a group of four people they meet right at this moment. “One of the men ran into us. He punched me in the face, I fell to the ground and he kicked me. He then hit my mother three times,” Alina remembers.
Her mother’s face is bleeding: broken nose. Alina has severe pain in her legs and head. They will both be taken by firefighters to Menton hospital and will spend the night under observation.
The man who dealt them all those blows is said to be Russian. “When he spoke, we understood”, confides the 31-year-old young woman, who speaks perfect French.
Refugees from Izium, a city liberated by the Ukrainian army this weekend
Alina and Olena arrived on the Côte d’Azur, in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, on April 19. They fled the war and Izium, in the Kharkiv region, after the city was conquered by the Russian army. A city liberated over the weekend during the lightning counter-offensive carried out by Ukrainian troops over the weekend.
“It was a very happy day. We were so happy with the news from the weekend when it happened. We didn’t flee the war to experience this”finished Alina.