The clock strikes 12 in the morningbut the ushakova avenuethe broad artery between two and four lanes flanked by shops and restaurants that crosses the center of Kherson and that leads from the railway station to the boardwalk of the dnieper river, offers a barren and intimidating appearance. Without exception, the few vehicles that still circulate on the road give a sudden jog in one of the last turnings that converge on the boulevard before reaching the river currentwhere you can glimpse, from a distance, the prow of a cargo ship of respectable proportions. In times of peace, the river breakwaterwhere a monument dedicated to the first marinesIt was one of the favorite places for the locals to take a walk. Now this lucky Moll de la Fusta In the Khersonian version, it is a space forbidden for recreation, without a doubt one of the corners more dangerous of this city of almost 300,000 inhabitants, where, according to the local authorities, russian snipers stationed on the opposite side can open fire at any time against all Human silhoutte let it be seen by those wanderings.
Last November and against the forecast, the Russian troops decided not to fight and preferred to evacuate. Kherson, the only provincial capital that they managed to control in the first days of the invasion, given the difficulties that it presented for the military commanders in Moscow to maintain the position. But, despite the months that have passed, this town marine and industrial located next to the delta of the most important river in Ukraine is very far from recovering any hint of civic normality, unlike cities like kyiv either Kharkiv. The presence of the Kremlin troops in the opposite margin of the Dnieper, which incessantly bombard and harass the locals sheltered in their positions, complicate and make daily life extremely difficult, driving away those who tried to return and condemning those who still remain in the town to an existence of deprivation and danger . He bad dream of the nine months of Russian occupation and the abuses committed during it remains cool in the memory of the citizens.
no river view
Svetlana Vinograd76 years old, and Lyudmila Pultar64, live in one of the buildings in the port district next to a bakery factory. And although both reside in precarious apartments Close to the shore, they thank heaven that their façade lacks views of the river, that “two other buildings” are acting as a parapet against the dangers coming from the opposite river bank. “As soon as ours (Ukrainian troops) arrived, they forbade us to go to the river to look for water because there were snipers,” explains one of them. Those were days when this supply life had been cut off and for many inhabitants, going with buckets to the Dnieper was the only way to supply themselves with the liquid element.
With the new Yearthe main threats came in the form of bombing which, according to these two women, can last for days at a time, forcing them to spend whole days hidden in the basement. “Of the 24 to 29 February (coinciding with the first anniversary of the start of the war) the bombardments were permanent; we couldn’t go out to do anything”, reports one of them, in a cordial tone, without ever losing her smile and exhibiting a denture in which some pieces are missing, and others are tinted with brilliant gold.
A small roundabout presided over by a statue where a boat is represented, welcomes the vehicles that, after crossing a bridge and passing a strict checkpoint of the Ukrainian troops, enter the Korabl neighborhood, a word that, in the vernacular, means precisely ‘ship’. In reality, the place is geographically an island separated from the center of Kherson by one of the arms into which the pluvial current divides shortly before reaching the sea, and it is populated by high houses of panels, port cranes and factories evacuated. It is also the urban district hardest hit by Russian artillery, where the few inhabitants who have not yet left prefer not to speak and limit themselves to pointing out the remains of the last artillery attack, which destroyed a local chain supermarket. Fresh and a Konsfiscat store, a brand that also sells clothing. The Ukrainian Red Cross has just announced that it was suspending the distribution of aid in specialized centers in Kherson due to the danger posed by crowds in the face of artillery attacks.
Excesses committed
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Kherson locals also have to apencar with the memories of excesses committed by some soldiers who are positioned a handful of kilometers away and who could return at any moment. Anastasia is the figurative name of a nurse at a local hospital who does not want to show her face and who spent a month and a half, from early September to mid-October, in a Russian-run detention center for supplying medication to a partisan. “Someone ratted me out, I don’t know who she was; they came first to the hospital for me, I was on vacation, and then they arrested me at home; they searched it and turned everything upside down, they were looking for weapons“, she explains. After the arrest, they blindfolded her and put her in a car that drove around the city for an hour, to disorient her.
Already in prison, she was interrogated in three times, by Russian inquisitors who did not identify themselves but presumably belonged to some intelligence or security body. “I identified them by their accent; they specialized in terrorizing prisoners through psychological torture; I have never met people like this“, she recounts. Although they did not put their hands on her, being elderly, she does remember the screams of the young men and women who were tortured. “They used the electrodes with them; the boys were terribly beaten; during the nights it was impossible to sleep a wink, “she recalls. Between September 20 and 27, the pseudo-referendum on the annexation of the Kherson province to the Russian Federation was held, in which she was forced to vote under” death threats ” .