There are smell of gunpowder, burning, drizzle and the thermometer marks three degrees. And no one can still believe what is happening. After weeks of comings and goings, threats, alerts, intelligence information that was later not fulfilled, the Ukrainians, accustomed to what their President Volodymyr Zelenskymany times called “hysteria”, they ran into the worst reality, whose consequences put in alarm the world.
(Due to the public interest that the events between Russia and Ukraine arouse, all our coverage of that invasion and related actions will have free access for all readers of EL TIEMPO).
The invasion of the country is already totalas Russian troops are entering from Belarus in the north and from the crimean peninsulain the south, not to mention that they are already in the donbas region, in the East. In addition, they surround this capital, which is empty and armored like never before, with tanks and barricades to protect themselves from the enemy, who seems to be getting closer and closer. on the prowl Although the information is difficult to confirm, the versions indicate that the two airports of Kiev, Borospil and Hostomel, were taken by Russian forces. And they are counted dozens of dead.
(Also read: Invasion of Ukraine can ‘affect global economic revival’: Duque)
the ukrainians They had woken up at five in the morning to the roar of explosions – missiles launched against military targets from the outskirts of the city, which caused columns of black smoke – and the noise of the anti-aircraft sirens that called the population to take refuge. With martial law and a state of emergency declared by Parliament. The most feared ghost, that of a true war (not psychological as it was until now), of an invasion, suddenly became a harsh and dramatic reality, that nobody knows if it could become the prelude to a unprecedented global explosion.
While thousands of people, in panic, who quickly loaded the trunks of their cars with suitcases prepared for weeks, fled the city to the west of the country and the television showed images of several congested avenues, in the center of Kiev an atmosphere reigned surreal. Its grand avenues of monumental Stalinist-style buildings, with their gold-domed churches, looked eerie. Very little traffic, empty businesses, a climate of terror.
On the emblematic Maidan Squareof Independence, protagonist of the popular rebellion that in 2014 caused Ukraine chose to side with the democratic West, they only looked journalists in bulletproof vests and helmetsbroadcasting live something that no one ever thought could actually happen.
That famous revolution, also called “EuroMaidan”, was the remote origin of this war in the heart of Europe: it made Vladimir Putin, to take revenge for that betrayal, began its aggression against Ukraine by first annexing the strategic Crimean peninsula and then fueling the insurrection in the pro-Russian area of Donbass, which led to a low-intensity war for eight years and has already harvested more than 17,000 dead. One of those forgotten wars on the planet, which a few months ago made the news again because the Russian president amassed weapons and troops around him. Beyond efforts to reach a diplomatic solution that fell in vain, finally last Monday, after recognizing the independence of the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Lugansk and Donetsk, the “tsar of the 21st century” sent “peace troops”, demanded by these entities after the alleged military aggression by Ukraine. It was the pretext to unleash the true objective: the demilitarization of all of Ukraine, a former Soviet republic considered by Putin to be a threat to its security.
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“Putin is like Hitler, a man of power that in the end is going to end very badly, ”says LA NACION Serguey, one of the few people we find in the center, in the queue in front of a pharmacy. Like most of the almost three million inhabitants of this capital who did not flee, Serguey, who works for an American company, will not go to work today but will remain locked up in his house, as requested by the president, Volodimir Zelenski, shortly after the attack began on a massive scale. A contradictory slogan because in a later appearance Zelensky, an ex-comedian, without a tie and a full beard, called on the population to take up arms to go out and defend the country and donate blood for the combatants. Although the information is confusing, dozens of deaths are already beginning to be counted.
Thirty-eight years old, red jacket, blue eyes Serguey, a computer engineer who says he lives 100 meters from the pharmacy, says he went out to buy painkillers for his wife. “I think all of us in this queue are looking for something to calm us down,” he says in perfect English.
“We try to be patient, but it’s difficult,” he says. Like most, when asked what she expects to happen now, she raises her arms. “I don’t know what to say, the military are fighting. The only thing I know is that Putin is like Hitler and that nefarious dictators like Hitler always end badly, ”he adds.
There is also a queue at an ATM. The subway, which in many neighborhoods of the city has become a refuge for dozens of families, is one of the few things that is still working. Of course few are seen using it, probably essential workers. The underground kiosks -similar to those seen under the Obelisk- that are normally swarming with people and that precede the entrance to the subway, are all empty, except incredibly for some that sell coffee on the go and beautiful fresh flowers of various colors. Who can think of buying and giving flowers while they are invading the country, while there is war?
(Also: Ukraine and Russia: Is there a danger of a Third World War?)
Vera, a lawyer, went out with her mother to look for an open supermarket to buy water and, incidentally, walk her dog. She too was woken up at five in the morning by the noise of the explosion which meant a dramatic twist to this hyper-sensitive war game, which involves not only Russians and Ukrainians, but the whole world. “We have to do what the president says, keep calm,” she says in English, with a face that reflects the opposite. Her mother, next to her, cannot hide her tear-filled eyes. “We are in the 21st century, we had two world wars and this is happening? It’s impossible,” she comments.
It’s still drizzling, clouds of black smoke rising in the sky in the distance, it smells of burning. It is the aftermath of the fire and the attacks against military targets on the outskirts of the city, a prelude to the total invasion.
Elizabeth Pique
SPECIAL AVOID OF THE NATION (BUENOS AIRES)
*GROUP DIARIES OF AMERICA (GDA)
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