Anton Zubriev and Olexandr Zabigaylo had been treated fairly well by life. In a country where the average salary was around 580 euros -the minimum, about 200-, both enjoyed a comfortable status: trips, cars and houses. A placid existence, without material concerns, which has been radically cut short by the war. It has only been seven days since the first sirens began to sound, but millions of people in Ukraine have lost almost everything. “Today I hardly have enough to buy food,” confesses Olexandr.
Zubriev, 28, is married and has a one-year-old son. He ran an internet dating business with which he made quite a bit of cash. Before the bombings started, he was organizing the meetings of 25 single men with as many women. With his savings, he bought a high-end, four-story car in Kharkiv, near the Russian border, where prices plummeted in the wake of the 2014 Donbass war. Yesterday they practically had to leave downtown from Kharkiv. The second Ukrainian city is practically devastated after several days of intense bombardment. The dead civilians are counted by dozens. “We hardly have any money because we invested a lot in the flats…, but now the only thing that matters is surviving,” he says.
Zabigaylo was also a lucky man. At 50 years old, he is married and the father of a son. He lives in Dnipro, the former headquarters of the Soviet missile industry. For years he dedicated himself to importing designer furniture from Europe. He decorated hotels and administrative buildings. There was a time when he earned “a lot” and took over a dozen houses, especially in Kiev. The clashes in Donbass between Russian-backed separatists and the Ukrainian army caused investments to plummet. In recent years he has lived on rents.
Victor’s escape
None of your tenants have paid you this week. Some, because they have fled from Kiev; others, because the war has left them jobless and unpaid. He is determined to stay and fight the invaders. At the moment, the situation in Dnipro is quite calm. But he has spent practically all of his savings – about 10,000 euros – helping relatives in difficulty – his wife and his son do not work and live in Kiev – and several friends to escape from places as dangerous as Kharkiv. In addition, he contributes funds for the civil resistance of his city.
One of the people he helps is Viktor Ivanovitch Butko, 74. He fled from Slaviansk, in the heart of Donbass, with some of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was working as an editor at a small printing press and left it all behind. Now they live in a shelter without heating. The war in Ukraine has aroused a widespread feeling of solidarity. In the bomb shelters, everyone shares what they have. In the cities, it is sought that no one is left without a plate of food. Raising the prices of basic necessities has been prohibited, but the question is how long this can be sustained over time in a country where the bombs have left millions of people without income.
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