2023-06-10 17:00:27
If war is a scenario in which irony intermingles with tragedy, Kherson it is the main theater. On the same street in which the rescue boats they abandon themselves in the race to dodge the russian artillery coming from the other side of the river, a Soviet cannon commemorates the liberation from the city. 79 years have passed since the Nazi defeat, since the last one Russian aggression barely a few minutes. It doesn’t matter that the Ukrainian offensive takes place at another point on the front or that thousands of civilians are trapped in their homes by the flood, after the blasting of the Nova Kakhovka dam. He Kremlin he doesn’t forgive and it’s been two days who shoots to kill
“Fucking Russians! Sometimes I think this war can only end conquering Moscow», shouts Dima, a retired soldier Ukrainian Armed Forces which arrived this week in Kherson. His plan: put the utensils and memorabilia in his apartment out of harm’s way. A few meters away, women like Irina carefully watch each boat, in case the next rescued person is their relative.
Around600 square kilometers (six times the size of Barcelona) have been flooded on both sides of the Dnieper River and it is estimated that 40,000 people could be affected. Of particular seriousness are the reports on the side controlled by Moscow, where it is entire towns submerged under water.
There, the soldiers of the ‘Z’ wait at the ‘check-points’, and prevent the rescuers from reaching the most critical areas. “They are afraid of saboteurs. They suspect everyone,” explains a volunteer named Yaroslav. Something similar explained the Ievhenii this Thursday, after arriving from They will fight with your friends and launch with several boats to help. He was caught between the water and the mirror of the Russian soldiers. Giving the coordinates over the phone, it was disconnected. «It’s been fucking hell», he would confess hours later.
No to occupation, no to evacuation
If Kherson were a movie, it would be called ‘The Flood’. But that doesn’t matter to many residents of the capital. The water has exceeded the five and a half meters high, although little by little, it starts to go down. Roofs, traffic lights, petrol cans and some signs appear here. “I stayed there during the occupation, I won’t be scared for a little water. As long as I have cans and bread left, I’m not thinking of moving”, shouts a lady from the edge of a block of flats built on a hill. They are lucky, because they are among the few who can get down to an area of the parking lot and walk. Their neighbors also smile and greet the military and volunteers who navigate the avenues of Kherson. “Go further there, there might be someone left who wants to move.”
Reactions that contrast with that of Víctor, 69 years old, excited to go down in the arms of a woman rescue boat, and that of Valentina, 90, who was crying inconsolably, finally on the ground. His dog drowned in the backyard of his house.
Who blew the dam?
About who destroyed the dam, yes there is a consensus in the city of Kherson. And while no conclusive evidence has been found, all signs point to Moscow. According to a report published by Nosar, a Norwegian foundation that collects information on seismic movements, at 02:54 a.m. local time on Tuesday, activity was detected that would fit with the indicators of an explosion. The timing coincides with the first warnings about the collapse of the dam. At the same time, Ukrainian media reports that the Russian Army would be demolishing others smaller reservoirs in the region of Zaporizhia.
It was months ago that the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenskiwarned of a possible russian sabotage and the head of the National Security and Defense Council, Oleksi Danílovhas also affirmed that members the 205th Motorized Rifle Brigade of Russia they were in charge of mining the reservoir.
A move about which there are doubts who benefits more Will it stay? Crimea without access to water? Will the level of the river prevent Ukrainian attacks through the Dnieper? Will it allow the Russians to free up troops for a while to focus on the southern front? These and many others geopolitical considerations they are far removed from the streets of Kherson. Especially, on the edges for evacuation.
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“It’s a good thing there hasn’t been a storm,” says Darik, one of the many civilian volunteers who has come to help. “Actually”, he corrects himself, “it’s still good that it was in the summer. In the winter… all dead. Frozen under water». He says this after jumping from the boat with which he crossed the flooded Kherson, while the artillery was punishing the city. Not even the rush to get under cover from the Russian fire alters his tone of voice. It is more than 15 months of war in the only Ukrainian regional capital that has suffered the combined trauma of occupation, persecution, torture and bombing.
If war is a mirror, in Kherson you can see it because of the Russian dalbajas. It happens in sport, in life and in Ukraine. Defeats, while confirmed at the last minute, occur long before the final blowout.
#double #martyrdom #Kherson