Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine has been under fire since the beginning of the war. In the ruins of the bombed city, the remaining residents try to survive. “Physically we’re holding out,” said a 65-year-old, “mentally we’re at the end”.
“It’s dark and cold here without electricity,” says Galyna Malakhova almost apologetically. The 63-year-old sits on her worn-out green sofa in a wool coat. The two dogs Rita and Mafa are the only company in their ground floor apartment on the north-eastern outskirts of Kharkov, in the district of Saltivka, district number 5. It is almost a miracle that Malakhova is still alive and that her apartment is still standing.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the Russian army has been shelling and bombing this high-rise district with many social housing units. Kharkiv in the northeast of the country is Ukraine’s second largest city, Saltivka is just over 20 kilometers from the Russian border. A month of war has turned the Malakhova neighborhood into a devastated ghost town. Those who could fled.
Kharkiv: “The Russians are constantly bombing us”
Malakhova stayed. The door to the opposite landing has been destroyed, and a dirty mattress lies in the flood caused by burst pipes. “A rocket hit the facade on the other side,” reports Malakhowa. “We’re right across from the Russians, they’re constantly bombing us. At first I was scared, now I’ve gotten used to it a little.”
When the attacks get too violent, she hides in the bathroom. Malachowa uses the quiet moments to feed the neighbours’ cats who have been left behind.
Masked guards prevent looting
Outside, two hooded figures guard the exit of a stairwell. They make sure that nobody loots the abandoned apartments. A man, eyes red with fatigue, puffs nervously on his cigarette. He invites a visit to his safe house, a building that was a school until the February 24 Russian attack on Ukraine.
There is a pungent smell in the school basement. The flickering flame of a candle illuminates the blank stare of an old man sitting motionless at a school desk. Little by little, more people can be seen in the semidarkness, wrapped in thick blankets, lying on improvised beds.
“Mentally we’re at the end”
The grey, pale faces show that these people have not been outside for days, even though their homes are only a few steps away. “Physically we’re holding out. We live, we cook, we talk to each other, that helps us to cope with the situation,” says 65-year-old Olga Panchenko, who has pulled her red cap down over her face. “But mentally we’re at the end.”
Vadim is one of the few youths down here. “The Russian soldiers stole our lives, our freedom. We don’t know how to get out of here,” he blurted out. “War is all around.”
Courageous volunteers bring groceries to the 20 or so people in the basement. When the power goes out, they make fires for cooking.
“I can’t run downstairs fast anyway”
“The last few days have changed everything in our lives,” says the 18-year-old Yevhen in a tired voice. “We’ve become a bit like a big family in this basement.” His mother is sitting next to him, stroking a large tomcat on her lap. Most here are old and debilitated, sick or disabled. Or people who simply don’t know where to flee to in this poor district with many social problems.
Olga Panchenko’s husband has been paralyzed on the right side since a stroke, and her son “lost his mind after an accident,” says the mother. Father and son stay in their sixth floor apartment all day without water or electricity.
Panchenko’s husband greets the visitor calmly and with a smile. “No, I’m not afraid,” he says. “I can’t run downstairs fast anyway.” Mornings and evenings, his wife comes from the basement to the sixth floor to bring them food. “We count the days and nights,” says Panchenko. “And thank you for every day that we stayed alive.”
Source: Stern
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