00:00 Fire and rescue crews in Stepnohorsk in Ukraine have become used to coming under fire while
00:07 rescuing people. They call the four-kilometer road to the front line the highway of life.
00:12 They've helped 5,000 residents escape along the muddy, shell-pocked route, often under
00:17 attack themselves.
00:18 We were hit not only by tanks, but also by planes and mortars. We saw everything. But
00:27 when you pull a car or a bus with people, you know you have to pull it over because
00:36 there's another column behind you.
00:39 When Russia blocked one of the exits from the highway, the fire crews adapted and focused
00:43 instead on helping those left behind. After the shells fall, they emerge from an improvised
00:49 bomb shelter in what was once a water storage tank.
00:52 It was a water storage tank. We found it here. When we were cleaning up, we decided to make
00:59 it into a bomb shelter. We dug it, tore it down, and took it out.
01:16 The rescuers are exhausted after a year and a half of a war whose end is not in sight in
01:21 the short or medium term. Two of their colleagues have lost their lives along the way.
01:26 [WHOOSH]
