Well away from the front, everyday life and the horrors of war are close together. In the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa, the danger comes from the air.
For the Ukrainian port metropolis of Odessa, the front runs in the sky. At the beginning of the third year of the war, Russia continues to fire missiles and fly Shahed disposable drones loaded with explosives into the city. Olexander Kolomin, commander of the mobile Ukrainian anti-aircraft unit “Chaika” (Seagull), is then in position with his soldiers.
“The enemy is always sneaky,” says Kolomin, who goes by the military nickname “Deputat,” a reference to his civilian life as a deputy in a municipality. “We are out and about almost every night,” he says after some soldiers have practiced shooting at night. The attackers constantly changed their tactics. “They are probably looking for our positions. They are bypassing us, but we are more skilled, we are more mobile, more capable of learning. We have a job. We protect the skies, the airspace of our state.”
Drones are a cheap and dangerous mass-produced commodity
The drone hunters know from air traffic surveillance when something is heading towards the city. They listen to the sound of drone engines and scan the sky with headlights. The identified targets are fired from automatic cannons, from flatbed trucks or from the mobile SU-23 anti-aircraft cannon. The drones are cheap and slow, but dangerous mass-produced goods that often arrive at low altitudes. The air defense is not wasting its expensive and scarce guided missiles on this. Russian Kalibr cruise missiles have already been shot down with the help of a shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missile, Ukrainian soldiers say.
And they have learned a lot in the past few years. It’s about technical details, such as the correct color spectrum of the light from the headlights in order to be able to recognize matt gray or black painted targets in the night sky. Or the meaning of silence. In the past, motor-driven power generators were used for the light and then incoming weapon systems could not be heard sufficiently in the noise. Now a mobile, noiseless power supply is carried. The drone hunter thus resembles the huntsman on his hide.
“Any air target in our direction, even on the territory of Ukraine, has great significance because it can cost someone their life,” says Kolomin. “Because, you understand, life is the most precious thing that a person has, that can exist in a state. That’s why we have to protect and it would be desirable if none of this existed.”
Two attacks hit Odessa within a few hours
There can be no absolute security. Even when there is an air alarm, many people go about their everyday activities unhindered. Odessa has remained a lively city – without tourists, but with restaurants and cafés, an economic life and a sometimes hedonistic nightlife culture. There are large diesel generators on the streets and numerous apps warn the population of air alarms.
Last week, two Russian Shahed drones made it through the defense shield within 24 hours. According to authorities, both aircraft loaded with explosives were hit by anti-aircraft fire. One drone crashed into an industrial area, and one crashed into a residential building in a densely built-up part of the city in front of its actual target. The explosion tore away walls.
The body of an old man was found in the charred rubble. His wife – as residents describe it – had to be rescued from the rubble, seriously injured. According to authorities, she died in a hospital on Sunday. This means that five people were killed in the two attacks.
A neighbor said she stood behind a wall when the air alarm went off in the kitchen, the room that seemed safest to her. “The explosion was unexpected for me. Everything outside was burning,” she says. “The neighbor’s daughter crawled out. She had burns and was screaming.”
The fire brigade, military and rescue services have expanded cooperation
When the city takes a hit, the fire department and rescue services are called in. The men and women go on standby when there is an air alert. According to fire station 7 in the city center of Odessa, the fact that they follow the rules and go into shelters and wait for the all-clear has not worked. 130 men and women out of a total of 2,000 full-time firefighters in the Odessa region do their duty there. In addition to the fire-fighting teams, there are also mine clearers, divers, chemical agents and operational psychologists. The fire department’s motto is: “Heroes without weapons.”
The war has created a new situation in operations, not just because firefighters are rotating to areas near the front to support their colleagues, says press spokeswoman Maryna Awerina. The danger situation has also changed in Odessa. “The risk of a second attack is high,” she says. The underlying concern is that rescue teams themselves will come under fire, which has happened again and again.
Fire and debris recovery at the same time
However, the extent of emergencies and the number of victims have also increased. “We knew fire and we knew rubble, but the combination of the two is a difficulty that we didn’t have before,” says the head of the fire station, Volodymyr Kryschanowskyj, when asked where he would prepare better in retrospect.
Cooperation with the police and paramedics is now more closely linked. And completely new is the use of dog handlers to search for buried victims. Military and civilian forces work closely together in Ukraine – after an attack, they are all in a race against time. In Germany, such a national defense is only just being rebuilt.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
