FROM THE ENVIRONMENT TO MYKOLAIV. From cielo today it rains rockets and water, it is the storms of spring in Mykolaiv. Beyond the gray sky and thunder is often heard, getting closer and stronger. It is the roar of the Russian artillery which, incessantly, has been raging on the city since the first day of the war. They shoot in the morning, then silence. They resume the night. Every night, from February 24th. Ninety-two days, a dripping of dead, wounded, destroyed buildings, the fear that makes the heart burst. The war of attrition is not “less” war. It’s surviving thinking every blowout could be yours.
The first night of the bombing on Mykolaiv Svetlana ran to a shelter made from a garage. She took her daughters Alina and Cristina by the hand, she clung to her husband Yuri, and she waited for her to finish. But it’s never over. And they never came out of that underground garage. They, like dozens of other families, quickly left their homes and, for 92 days, have been living as if buried alive in a cube of reinforced concrete. Slowly, night after night, the life of the building moved downstairs. Beds, camp stoves, camping tables, lamps and toys for the children were transported. Apart from the light, the air and the sky, there is everything in the bunker houses.
All the garages of the small dirt road are occupied, some are destined for food supplies, others for passing “guests”, like a family from Kherson who miraculously managed to escape from the occupation, the others are the new houses of this small underground city . There are no rules, except that of sharing. Yuri, a 2014 veteran, worked at the airport before the war, immediately bombed and destroyed. So he continued what he already did in his spare time, the volunteer. Today, in his white van, he goes around the villages of Mykolaiv Oblast to deliver food packages to those who have remained isolated, to the elderly cut off from the world, to those who live on the front line, to the soldiers of the front line. He shows on the phone the map he uses to avoid the artillery. He looks at Svetlana, who as she hugs her daughter Alina looks like a Renaissance painting. “Whenever the bombs give us a break I go home to wash and see if the cat and the parrot are okay,” she says with a smile that she forgets her eyes. She, who “before” was involved in organizing children’s parties and weddings, laughs more and more rarely: “It is clear that my balloons are no longer needed by anyone.” She sees her daughters grow up without friends, without school, “they can’t even say what they want to do when they grow up”. «When I grow up I want to make peace», Cristina, 12 years old, intervenes, but then she laughs embarrassed, maybe she thinks it’s not the right answer.
They have been like chain-bound animals for 92 days. A chain that starts from the garage, and when they don’t bomb, allows the few steps that separate them from their home, the real one. Time to wash, take clean clothes, check that the windows are still whole. “We feel a little safer down here. If a missile hits iOur building – explains Yuri – there is a risk of collapse, here at most a panel of insulation falls. Maybe it’s just self-belief, but it’s important to believe something. Here everything is shaking, but we are safe. At least, we were until they hit us with the Grads, now that they’ve started using guided missiles launched by ships even this bunker can’t hold up. Hope for the best”. The grandparents arrive from the garage next door, they had gone to visit. A plate with bread, cheese and salami appears, the water is heated for the tea. “But we also have a microwave,” says Svetlana and adds cookies to the banquet.
From the hole in the floor come the laughter of Alina and Cristina, they are playing with soft toys below, and they imagine worlds forbidden to adults. They stopped asking when they can go home. “Little girls are afraid of bangs,” says Svetlana. The implication is “so let’s stay here”. The feeling is that they could be here forever. Unless Moscow decides that Mykolaiv must also be Russian. «It will never happen – swears Yuri-. Nobody was prepared for this war, the soldiers of the territorial defense were at the checkpoints in jeans and T-shirts, there was a lack of weapons, protections… ». Now it’s different, this big man in camouflage repeats, convinced that the war will be long, but Mykolaiv will always be Ukrainian: «At first the Russians were able to advance quickly, now the cities are ready, and the offensive has stopped here. Mykolaiv received the status of the heroic city along with Bucha, Irpin and Okhtyrka. Because the Russians can’t get it. ‘
Here, in this underground microcosm, news comes from the front line – “today the Ukrainian army has repelled an attack on the outskirts of Mykolaiv”, from Kherson, from Oleksandrivka, a village occupied by the Russians where Svetlana’s parents still live: ” When the Russians entered they asked to remove the flag that was above the theater to avoid conflicts, once the flag was removed it seemed that everything was okay, but it was not all okay ». Two weeks later other Russians arrived and began to enter every house, “they were looking for men of old age to be drafted … sack on their heads, hands tied, they were taken to the square in the center of the town, we will kill you all they said. They beat my daughters ‘godfather with a rifle because he tried to talk to us.’ Also for this reason, for these stories, “Mykolaiv will never be caught,” says Yuri, while he stares straight ahead. He knows very well that in the North, in the Donbass, the siege has reached a very high peak of intensity, but he also knows that it is with confidence that one wins and survives: “The counter-offensive has already begun, we will bring everyone back home.the”.
Unlimited access to all site content
€ 1 / month for 3 months, then € 3.99 / month for 3 months
Unlock unlimited access to all content on the site
#Mykolaiv #city #buried #alive #Locked #garage #days