MICHAEL IN KHARKIV, UKRAINE.
SEPTEMBER 2022.
BOMBARDMENT!
In an apparant response to the Ukraine military making significant gains in occupied territory, the Russians have unleashed a bombardment against Kharkiv City. There's nothing 'military' in it at all, it's out of bitterness and spite. They aren't winning on the battlefied, so they hit the civilians. This missile hit another apartment just around the corner from mine, I was there in minutes. The explosion was so loud it shook the building and my ears were ringing all day. Fortunately, there were no fatalities.
This is the other side of the road. There is barely a street in the square-mile centre of Kharkiv that hasn't got building damage or blown out windows. For two days it felt relentless, sirens going for hours and over 50 missiles hitting the city, this time with fatalities. Children injured, pointless pain and destruction. No logic, no sense. It's a familiar picture.
You can see what they've done to Kharkiv yourself, in this short Youtube video 'Postcards from Ukraine', presented by Hugh Bonneville aka 'Lord Grantham' in Downton Abbey amongst other things.
Those images you see, are the streets I walk every day. It really is like that. Of course, the more missiles they fire at us, the greater the risk for each and everyone of us here. I moved to another apartment that I hope is a bit safer, but it has a window that faces east towards the front. I've had to stop myself looking out of it, scanning the sky for the next one to fall on the city.
Archive photograph.
Yesterday, whilst sitting on a park bench, I saw two missiles side by side, heading straight towards me with long vapour trails and glinting in the sun. For a second I froze in anticipation, then I realized that they were gaining height, getting faster and moving west to east. Turns out they were Himars. The word 'relief' was created for that moment!
But in typical Ukrainian war-time spirit, whenever there's a strike, the masses of volunteers and contractors turn out and clean everything up. The emergency services are incredible as well, there's no hesitation going into a clearly unsafe and burning building to look for survivors. The city has a lot of experience now in dealing with these attacks and is very proficient on every level.
Not only are they clearing, they are rebuilding and replacing. This shopping mall is getting new glass for the front, every piece was shattered. I asked why would they do it while the city was still being bombed? The answer was, because there is so much damage, if they wait for the war to end, there would be years or decades of work to do. It's a head start. Risky, but admirable. It's says a lot about how the war is going that they have started now. They could well be right!
These are some of the Turbota team, the volunteer humanitarian aid group I work with. A large part of their work is providing mothers, babies and small children with essential medical aid and supplies. I bought £250/$300 worth of medical items for the group from the UK/USA aid fund, that will be given free to those who need it. There's nothing more emotive than mothers with toddlers and babies struggling to cope in a war zone. It's a great British and Ukrainian co-operation, hence the photo.
The medical supply centre was desperately short of stock, which means that Turbota are too. This is all they have for the whole city and region. I asked what they needed to stock up and the list was very long. It's pretty much everything a baby or a small child would need and they get through a lot. Most things they don't have and can't get, just the basics.
I did another shop for them using money from the UK/USA aid fund for baby supplies. It's looking like my next mission! With winter coming, it will be even more important to have those essentials to see them through. Even if the war ended tomorrow, it would take a long time to get supplies here. Babies can't wait!
There are very few ways they can make money, one is to hand-make these lovely bracelets to sell. It's a skill in itself, as Liena showed me in quick time!
I asked if they could teach me how to do them, so I can make them myself when I get back to the UK and hopefully raise some money for the group. It's fiddly, more complicated than you think, but like everything, once you start to get the hang of it, it's not too bad!
Practice makes perfect! Do some every day, programme the 'old brain' to do something new!
Just as I was getting the hang of it, the lights went out - again! Russian retaliatory strikes designed to disrupt the daily lives of civilians have struck the power plant for a second time in 24 hours on the ouskirts of the city. We have no windows in the basement, so were in total darkness and had to use the paraffin burners we make for the military for light.
The damage also affects the pumped water supply and internet, so very inconvenient all in all. But it's wartime spirit, so 'it is what it is'. Get on with it!
More wartime spirit! This is the coffee place opposite my building, the windows were blown out recently, but the spirit of coffee remains strong! Ukrainians love their coffee, little booths are everywhere and it is very good quality. At about one third the cost of UK prices, it is very easy to overdo it!
I should probably have done this earlier! You can see how close the 'dark' line of the Russian border is at the top of the page. That's why Kharkiv is such an important city in so many ways. It also makes it a big, easy target for Russian attacks. It's so close, the sirens often start after the missiles have landed and exploded.
Recently, they have been targeting the infrastructure to make the local population suffer. The power has been off again for a third time and as I write there is no water.
This missile has been 'planted' here in symbolic fashion, on the edge of Independence Square. The building complex behind it has been hit seven times so far. We just went six whole days without any attacks, probably because they were distracted by the speed and success of the Ukrainian counter-offensive. Then at 3.30am this morning, I was awoken by a huge explosion close by. It's probably why the water is off again.
This poster is also prominently displayed, it says American, European,..... Russian. Surprisingly, despite the horrors, Ukrainians use humour to address the Russians as a nation, constantly rediculing them at every opportunity. I would like to show you the other poster of Putin, but it's unsuitable for this infoblog!
Fortunately, despite the widespread destruction, some stunning buildings have survived, like Pokrovs'kyy Monastery in the city centre. It's surely more by good fortune than anything else, that's the way it is here.
Along some streets, they paint the craters and shrapnel holes caused by mortar bombs. This one says 'The flower you will not forget'.
After the spectacular counter-offensive launched by the Ukrainian military into Kharkiv Oblast, a lot of towns and villages have been repatriated. After months of mistreatement and abuse, the people there are desperate for supplies of all kinds. Priority of course, is medical, food and water. After getting my clearance pass and body armour, I went with Turbota on an urgent humanitarian aid mission to a village 30km from Kharkiv, just one amongst dozens needing help.
We had to wait for a military escort and once past the perimeter checkpoint, we were in the war zone, on the front-line. Just a few days ago, Russian soldiers were here and in control of this region. It's an active area, so there were absolutely no photographs allowed that included anything military. Fortunately, any other photos were ok. Stories of Russians hightailing it at speed and leaving everything behind were clearly true.
They had not even had time to flee in their own vehicles, the Ukrainians caught them so fast. There's the Russian 'Z' again. They always seem to be on destroyed vehicles. There were dozens of cars and other military vehicles littered across the whole route, which is not open to the public to use yet.
Every checkpoint we came to was heavily manned and they thoroughly scrutinised our documents and vehicles. It was a short trip, but it took a long time. This area is so recently repatriated, our military escort didn't know that a bridge had been blown up by the escaping Russians. It didn't help them much.
It meant a long detour on a rough track, where pretty much every house had been destroyed. There was a burnt smell in the air for most of the trip. Once we rejoined the road, it was the same picture again, mile after mile.
Army units were already out clearing the road and removing the shells of all the burnt out vehicles. I'm sure they will have the road fully open in a few days. There's thousands of bits of tanks and other military vehicles strewn all over the place and the rubbish that they left behind was frankly of an inhuman behaviour. I could see army units out in the fields, still looking for stragglers. It's an ongoing operation.
When we arrived at the village, we were only about 3km from the Russian border. See that tree line on the horizon? It's just over the other side of that. There was the constant thud of artillery shells firing and landing in huge booming explosions, all along the landscape. Needless to say, we unloaded the vans in double-quick time, but still posed for a photo. It may appear like vanity, but the Ukrainians make a big deal of recording and sharing everything that they do that is positive and productive. It is huge for morale.
The big guy on the left is Denys, they don't come much tougher! He watches out for me and does the trips into the war zone area with the aid. Fortunately, aid is getting to those villages quite quickly, through various channels. You have to remember that some of them have been cut-off from the world for over 5 months. They ask is Kyiv safe, they don't even know what has happened in the war, but they are very happy to be free again and often surprised that Ukraine is doing so well!
Information is only just starting to surface regarding what these people have had to go through. It's starting to look like another Bucha in some towns, with war crimes and horrors beyond imagination. We got chance to look at the village before we left, what's left of it. Another school pointlessly destroyed, despite the protection efforts. Most places we saw were like this.
In their rush to leave, the Russians left behind a lot gear, including intact military vehicles and ammunition. Much of the lesser stuff is just left around and is so recent it has not even been collected up yet. We found this AK-74 automatic rifle night vision sight, still in it's box. Just to emphasize the poor quality and age of the equipment they have, this still bears the mark of the former USSR. It's probably over 40 years old. It will be handed over to the Ukrainian military, probably more a collector piece than useful!
When I got back to the apartment after a long day, the water was still off, that's a full day now. It's not easy, but it is another reminder that the war affects everyone, even miles from the front-line. I was out early again the next morning though, Denys was heading down to a village very close to the southern front with urgent aid. No public allowed again and we were assigned a police unit as escort through the war zone area. At one stop, there was a pile of Russian land mines, stacked by the side of the road. The road itself is really the only safe place to tread at the moment, they have not had time to check and clear anywhere else.
As before, the surprise counter-offensive had left Russian soldiers fleeing and leaving a lot behind. As before, the roadside was littered with burnt-out vehicles. As before, civilian vehicles destroyed by Russians, military vehicles destroyed by the Ukrainian army. Dozens of them, all along the road.
In a previous photo, I said that the missile had been placed symbolically. On the outskirts of the village we were going to, we came across this. This is for real.
We were literally days after the repatriation here, so very little has changed. When we arrived at the drop-off, there were hundreds of people queueing to get official documents to leave the now 'free' area. They were surrounding every van asking for a lift to Kharkiv. Buses were turning up to take as many as possible. I could not take any photos, it was a strategic military town with masses of soldiers and vehicles heading south to the front. A huge column arrived late in the afternoon.
Archive photograph.
With our clearance, we were allowed into the military compound area and canteen. The best photos of all would have been there; battle hardened Ukrainian soldiers, guns leaning up against the table, sharing a meal and a joke before heading back to fight. There was buzz in the air, morale high and and an eagerness to get on with it. Only minutes there, then gone. We are asked not to even mention the locations we are in. Geo-location in actual 'live' photographs can prejudice ongoing operations.
Archive photograph.
As we were heading back to the van, there was the sound of a thunderous jet engine above us. Back in an early Boots on the ground, I said that 'the sky was quiet' and the first time you hear something is the time you run! Well this was the first time and somebody shouted RUN! (in Ukrainian, but I understood it!) and dozens of soldiers sprinted away from the buildings. Minutes later a plume of smoke rose from an industrial complex down the road. Then everybody carried on.
It seems like a million miles away from the peaceful days in Kyiv. There is a momentum now that will be hard to stop. To be here and part of the history that is being made is something incredible. The horror still goes on, but so does the strength and belief. There is no greater cause than fighting for freedom.
Donations update:
Since 'Boots 7', a further £300/$360 has been donated to Turbota to purchase over 100 items of Childrens medicine and baby items. £85/$100 has been given in cash to help individuals in urgent need. That brings our total to nearly £2000/$2400 in one month. Thank you again for your support, it's helping people today.
You can see the whole of my trip in Ukraine, with history, culture and the war by clicking on the top left of page 'All posts'.
SLAVI UKRAINI.