Along the streets of the administrative capital of the Zhytomer Oblast region thousands of people work shoulder to shoulder to raise the defense of their city
No matter the age, sex or origin of each one right now on the streets of Zhytomer. They are all united in a single goal; defend their land. Along the streets of the administrative capital of the Zhytomer Oblast region thousands of people work shoulder to shoulder to raise the defense of their city. “We are not afraid, we are going to fight, we want to defend our land, Putin is not afraid of us, he will find us here”, assures Olena Igorevna, a young university student while closing sandbags that will serve as a parapet in a defensive position in the city center . She is with her mother Svitlana who is 65 years old. She is not afraid either « I lived through the Soviet era and I don’t want that dark stage that I lived through for most of my life to come back. I want a future for my daughter. I will do everything in my power so that Putin comes out of Ukraine defeated »she tells us.
On the other side of the square, a truck full of sand begins a maneuver to unload its load. Vadim directs the maneuver. He is a volunteer who has joined the civilian territorial defense units. He is in charge of coordinating all operational defense preparations in this sector of the city. ” Slow slow ! “He yells as he orders a group of men to get on the truck to start unloading sand. « I never thought I would see myself in such a situation, it’s crazy. However, we have no other alternative but to defend ourselves, nobody will come to do it for us. A large group of people armed with shovels work tirelessly filling sandbags. They all have the same goal, to survive. A new order from Vadim makes all the men drop their shovels and go immediately to unload three new trucks that arrive at the town hall square full of anti-tank defenses. Vladim organizes them into groups of five and without any help they unload the heavy pieces of metal that will act as parapets against a possible advance of Russian tanks through the center of the city.
On the other side of the city, in the market not a single soul is to be seen. Virtually all shops remain closed. Alone and in the only stall that is open in this sector of the market we find Tamara Kovalchuk. She is 53 years old, she sells flowers and she did not want to stop opening her small business today. “I have decided to open my business today because I want to bring some light and hope to people. I refuse to think that this war will continue. I am sure they will reach an agreement and we will soon return to our usual lives.
His optimism, however, collides with the atmosphere of tension that already reigns in the city. Everyone is suspected of being a Russian collaborator or saboteur. The police control the security of the city and are supported by civilian volunteers from the territorial battalion. The sirens of police cars raise the alarm of passers-by walking through the park on Kaatedralna Street. A man who is supposedly making marks with a spray arouses the suspicions of the neighbors and they decide to notify the police. Police immediately surround the suspect and arrest him. The atmosphere is tense. Around the park, the police stop all passers-by and require them to identify themselves with their official documents. The scene lasts about twenty minutes during which onlookers from the windows of the adjoining buildings immortalize the moment with their mobile phones.
Two men prepare a barricade to defend their city. /
Not far from the Kaatedralna street park, on a main avenue of the administrative center, a column of men and women is struggling to finish erecting a barricade. Among them is Volodymir, a Ukrainian businessman from Zhytomer who has decided to stay to defend the city from him. « I never thought I would see myself defending my country from Russia. The Russians have always been like brothers to us »he tells us. Along with him, a young man named Olek, who until the beginning of the war was dedicated to playing soccer in a regional league team, tells us that the war caught him visiting some friends and that now he has decided to stay to defend the city.
Tension has been building for the last few hours in Zhytomer. Bombing alert sirens have become part of the everyday sounds of the city. At dawn in a makeshift shelter in one of the Zhytomer hotels, Olixiy Yefimovy takes refuge with his wife Olena, his daughter Nikita and his mother-in-law Katreyna. They have fled from Kiev « I live in the Bucha district. Yesterday morning next to my house I started to hear shots and I decided with my wife to flee the city. I don’t know what we are going to do, because look at us, we are again in a shelter, I don’t know if there is a safe place in Ukraine anymore.”
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