Grozny Residents Flee City Russian Army Warns Of Attack, Sending Thousands Running

A woman in a purple bathrobe ran down the dirt road, clutching her 8-year-old daughter by the hand and sobbing with terror as artillery shells exploded behind them.

“I don’t know where I can run to. The Russians are shooting at everything and everyone,” Yahira Daudova cried. “Who will save us?”

Shaking with fright, Daudova said she didn’t even have time to dress Tuesday when she fled from Grozny. She held a small plastic bag containing the only possessions she and her child managed to grab before leaving.

Thousands of other terrified refugees, some carrying babies and small children, were fleeing down the bumpy dirt road that is the only major route from the city. Their one thought was to escape the fighting behind them.

Separatist rebels captured Grozny on Aug. 6, surprising the Kremlin in a bold offensive. On Monday, the Russian army warned the Chechen capital’s population that it was massing for a major offensive to retake the city, and that all civilians should leave.

The military said the corridor would be open for 48 hours to let residents flee, but already fighting raged around the road Tuesday. Russian troops with armored vehicles recaptured at least one point on the road after fierce clashes with Chechen fighters, who had controlled the route since taking the city.

Refugees were caught between the two sides, desperately running for their lives as shells exploded around them and machine-gun fire cut through the surrounding forest.

Mistaking a reporter for a soldier, a terrified old woman carrying only two plastic shopping bags begged for mercy. “Please, please don’t hurt me,” she pleaded, sobbing. “I don’t have any money or food. Please.”

Several refugees claimed they had been robbed and beaten by Russian soldiers. One man displayed red welts across the back of his neck that he said were inflicted by soldiers.

Many of the refugees from the city were ethnic Russians, and they had no doubt about whom to blame for their suffering. One after another burst into a stream of profanity about President Boris Yeltsin’s government.

“We must get rid of Yeltsin, this Russian leader who makes war on the Russian people,” screamed Irina Sadova, her large, round face purple with anger. “These are not soldiers. They are bandits.”

As the gunfire flared around them, the terrified refugees ran and stumbled down the road. Many were on foot, carrying bulging plastic bags and battered suitcases. Covered in sweat and panting from exhaustion, they trudged on under the blazing sun, not daring to stop.

Everywhere, children with pale, haggard faces struggled along the road, many wearing white sandals. A few cried, but most did not utter a sound despite the nearby explosions.

During lulls in the fighting, columns of dilapidated cars and trucks sped down the road. Small cars with 10 or more people crammed inside lurched past trucks with 50 or more people jammed in the back.

White flags made from old bedsheets and towels were tied to each vehicle to show they were civilian.

Since Russia sent troops to Chechnya in December 1994 to end its bid for independence, most civilians have fled Grozny. Before the war, 400,000 people lived in the city. Now there may be 100,000 or fewer.

Of those who remained, many said they had nowhere to go, no relatives they could stay with elsewhere and no money.

“We run for our lives. But how will we live?” asked an old man who wouldn’t give his name. He said he was almost 70 and had no relatives or friends outside of Grozny. “Maybe we will die in the fields with the animals.”