TUESDAY April 19, 2022: 'The LAST to LEAVE' by award winning, ZUMA Press photo-journalist DANIEL CARDE. Days start early for SOS Vostok driver Vlad Savchenko, 48, of Slovyansk. He is one of several drivers for SOS, a Czech based NGO, risking his life in war torn Ukraine to help evacuate the elderly and disabled and those unable to flee hard hit areas. As fighting rages in southern Ukraine, volunteer medics are helping to evacuate the last civilians in the Donbass region as a new offensive from Russian forces looms. Millions of elderly and disabled Ukrainians are 'at high risk' because they are unable to flee the fighting. There are more than 7 million people age 60 or older in Ukraine and 2.7 million people with disabilities, according to the EU Disability Forum. Ukraine is trying to evacuate as many trapped civilians as possible, as Russia seeks to entrench a land passage between two separatist, self-proclaimed people's republics in Donbas and the southern region of Crimea that Russia seized in 2014. Welcome to 'The LAST to LEAVE'
© zReportage.com Story of the Week #835: TUESDAY April 19, 2022: 'The LAST to LEAVE' by award winning, ZUMA Press photo-journalist DANIEL CARDE. Days start early for SOS Vostok driver Vlad Savchenko, 48, of Slovyansk. He is one of several drivers for SOS, a Czech based NGO, risking his life in war torn Ukraine to help evacuate the elderly and disabled and those unable to flee hard hit areas. As fighting rages in southern Ukraine, volunteer medics are helping to evacuate the last civilians in the Donbass region as a new offensive from Russian forces looms. Millions of elderly and disabled Ukrainians are 'at high risk' because they are unable to flee the fighting. There are more than 7 million people age 60 or older in Ukraine and 2.7 million people with disabilities, according to the EU Disability Forum. Ukraine is trying to evacuate as many trapped civilians as possible, as Russia seeks to entrench a land passage between two separatist, self-proclaimed people's republics in Donbas and the southern region of Crimea that Russia seized in 2014. Welcome to 'The LAST to LEAVE'
With a red cross taped on the window, a woman being evacuated looks out from the vehicle as it stopped at the Church of Grace in Pokrovsk. Seeking to escape the looming Russian attack along with other refugees, they are driven by the humanitarian group SOS Vostok to a railway station at Pokrovsk to catch a train to Vinnytsia further west and relative safety.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
A vehicle operated by SOS Vostok, a Czech NGO, is parked at the entrance to an elderly residential center to help evacuate residents from Toretsk in Eastern Ukraine. People are fleeing the area as Russian troops prepare an offensive to take the region.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
A resident at an elderly residential center waits on a gurney to be evacuated from Toretsk, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. People are fleeing the area as Russian troops prepare an offensive to take the region.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
An elderly lady leaving the city waits inside a vehicle driven by a volunteer from the Czech non-governmental organization SOS Vostok. SOS is helping evacuate people who are fleeing the area as Russian troops advance on the region.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
Workers assist residents down a stairwell at an elderly residential center to evacuate them from Toretsk. Unable to travel on their own, residents were transported by SOS Vostok, a Czech NGO, to a railway station at Pokrovsk where they evacuate by train to Vinnytsia as people flee the area amid the threat of a looming Russian offensive to take the region.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
A worker assists a resident out of an elderly residential center to a vehicle to evacuate her from Toretsk. Unable to travel on their own, residents were transported by SOS Vostok, a Czech NGO, to a railway station at Pokrovsk as people flee the area as Russian troops prepare an offensive to take the region.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
A vehicle operated by SOS Vostok, splashes through a flooded street en-route to pick up people at an elderly residential center to evacuate them from Toretsk. People are fleeing the area as Russian troops prepare an offensive to take the region.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
Another busy driver from SOS Vostok, transports elderly people from a residential center to evacuate them from Toretsk. Along with several other vehicles in a convoy, they drove them to a railway station at Pokrovsk where they caught a train to Vinnytsia and relative safety during the war.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
An elderly lady at a residential center for the aged, adjusts her scarf while waiting to be evacuated from Toretsk. Several residents were transported by SOS Vostok to a railway station at Pokrovsk where they caught a train to Vinnytsia.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
An SOS Vostok driver helps a resident to stand so she can be evacuated from an elderly residential center in Toretsk. The residents were transported by the Czech NGO, to a railway station at Pokrovsk where they caught a train to Vinnytsia.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
A vehicle from SOS Vostok, a Czech NGO, evacuates elderly people from Toretsk, down a rain covered street in Toretsk in Eastern Ukraine. They drove the people to a railway station at Pokrovsk where they caught a train to Vinnytsia to seek shelter from the looming Russian airstrikes.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
Driver VLAD SAVCHENKO, 48, from the Czech NGO, SOS Vostok, drives his vehicle filled with elderly people as he helps to evacuate them from Toretsk. Savchenko drove them to a railway station at Pokrovsk where they caught a train to Vinnytsia.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
Beds are lined up as the Church of Grace is being used to shelter elderly residents in Pokrovsk. The Czech NGO, SOS Vostok, delivered goods to the church and transported people to a railway station at Pokrovsk where they caught a train to Vinnytsia.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
From left, a SOS Vostok driver and an residential center worker lift an elderly woman on a stretcher to evacuate her from Toretsk. The residents were transported by SOS Vostok, a Czech NGO, to a railway station at Pokrovsk where they caught a train to Vinnytsia.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
Residents assist volunteer medics by lifting a woman on a stretcher and place her carefully inside an ambulance so she can be evacuated from an elderly residential center in Toretsk. The residents were transported by SOS Vostok to a railway station at Pokrovsk where they traveled to Vinnytsia to escape the looming Russian attack in the East of the country.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
A vehicle with SOS Vostok reverses into Church of Grace's driveway to deliver goods the church needs and to pick up elderly people who have been sheltering at the church to transport them to a railway station in Pokrovsk. The NGO drivers transported people to a railway station at Pokrovsk where they caught a train to Vinnytsia to escape the looming Russian attack.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
An elderly man is carried on a canvas stretcher across the platform to a train at the railway station in Pokrovsk. Many people were evacuated to Vinnytsia as Russian troops prepare an offensive to take the region.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
Station police carry an elderly man on stretcher to a waiting train at the railway station in Pokrovsk, as many people evacuate to Vinnytsia as Russian troops prepare an offensive to take the region.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
Volunteers carry a woman by stretcher to a departing train at the railway station in Pokrovsk, as many people evacuated to Vinnytsia as Russian troops prepare an offensive to take the region.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
Driver VLAD SAVCHENKO, 48, from the Czech NGO, SOS Vostok, returns a stretcher to his ambulance after helping transport elderly people from Toretsk to Pokrovsk, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
A woman peers through a broken glass window after Russia shelled the building across the street. At least five people were killed an 13 were wounded as Russia stuck the city multiple times.
© Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire
