2023-06-27 18:26:00
Airstrikes are still part of everyday life in Ukraine. Sometimes they are particularly severe, as was the case recently in President Zelenskyy’s hometown. The attack shows the tyranny that civilians are subjected to.
By Peter Sawicki, ARD Kyiv
An eerie calm reigns in a centrally located housing estate in Kryvyi Rih. The 600,000-inhabitant city in south-eastern Ukraine is the hometown of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the country’s president. It is not without bitter symbolism that a Russian rocket landed here not long ago.
The home that was hit continues to offer a sight of devastation. The facade is charred, the courtyard is still littered with broken glass. A few dozen meters away, Tetiana Nikolaevna is standing in front of the entrance to her block of flats.
“Everything flew through my apartment”
She experienced the impact like this: “It was three in the morning. I mightn’t sleep, I was sitting on the sofa. Suddenly I heard a bang, right in our courtyard. My balcony door flew off its hinges, neighbors ran out, I followed.”
There she saw how the house next door was on fire. The pressure wave also hit other houses, as resident Lyudmila describes: “Everything flew through my apartment – cupboards, glass, objects. Our front door was jammed, neighbors opened it from the outside. The police and fire brigade came. We were then put into the shelter School evacuated.”
“My little boy has panic attacks”
The shock can still be felt in the residents of the settlement. The attack left its mark, reports Sweta Hrybyonkyna: “My little son has panic attacks, he often wakes up at night and stands to attention like a soldier. My oldest had just finished his final exams at school. I asked if he was scared. He said , now he’s not afraid of anything.”
The rocket attack claimed 13 lives. It was sheer luck that she survived, says Tetiana Nikolaevna. At the same time, she mourns the loss of her neighbors, all of whom she knew.
Her little son has panic attacks, says a local resident. “He often wakes up at night and stands at attention like a soldier.” Her eldest said he wasn’t afraid of anything anymore.
“Signs of arbitrariness and brutality”
In the corridor of a clinic in Kryvyi Rih, patients and relatives are waiting in front of Olena Wasilevna’s office. She is the chief physician at the hospital treating those injured in the missile attack.
“Two of the injured had severe burns, unfortunately we mightn’t help them,” she reports. “All other patients are relatively stable. They also get psychological help. It’s a lengthy process and depends on many factors, including the extent of the material damage suffered.”
The air raid is a tragedy for the entire city, says Vasilevna, and a sign of the arbitrariness and brutality of Russia’s aggressive war. Some of the survivors would have lost everything. Some stayed temporarily with relatives and friends.
The hospital staff are also sad
It is particularly painful for the survivors, according to the head doctor: “One of our employees lost her daughter. She and her husband died in the attack. A young couple, in their early 20s. This is a very difficult time for our colleague. No matter how good we are support them too – following such a loss, the pain stays forever.”
The grief is therefore also great among the hospital staff. And yet, even in the pain, Vasilevna can see something encouraging and is proud of how the local residents dealt with the tragedy: “One patient only came to us a few days later. He had injuries to his spine,” she says. “He had helped catch people who had jumped from windows on higher floors. We are Ukrainians, we are there for each other and we will win.”
Destroyed block of flats in Kryvyi Rih: The cohesion in the city is great.
“I wish the Russians would experience such a night”
In the settlement where the destroyed apartment building is located, the resident of Nikolaevna finds it difficult to look positively to the future. Sadness and fear outweigh her, she has tears in her eyes. She believes it will continue like this for a long time. Her son is trying to persuade her to flee abroad. But she doesn’t want to leave her city.
Neighbor Lyudmila appears calm to the outside world, but also deeply bitter. Above all, they are concerned with one question: why the rocket attacks and why this war? “We’re not bad people. I just wish that the people of Russia would experience and survive a night like this – like we did recently. So that they know how it feels.”
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