The city of Krivyy Rih -twisted horn in Spanish- birthplace of the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, is not a population to use. With more than 400 kilometers squares of surface, in their seven districts overlap, over a distance of almost 130 kilometersbuildings of two and three heights, single family homes with orchards, forests and wastelandfactories for steel treatment And till open air iron mines.
One of the few metropolitan examples What can this be compared to? unusual urban agglomeration is precisely in Russia, the neighboring country: It is called volgograd and it is a sprawling metropolis 60 kilometers longalso in the form of a bent horn, on the western margin of the namesake river. Known during the last century by the name of Stalingradwas the scene, during the WWIIof the deadliest battle in history.
According to the locals, at this geographical resemblance another could soon be added, of a character perhaps more historical. Because the countrymen and neighbors of the Ukrainian head of state promise to turn this town “into the Stalingrad” of the Russians If they try to get close and take control of your prosperous mining operations and steel millswhich make up the largest metallurgical center of Eastern Europe and constitute a very important source of foreign exchange for the Ukrainian state. “It is a very important goal because we are talking about a lot of money,” he certifies Oleksiy Nesterenkojudge-orator in the Court of ingulets districtin Kryvi Rih.
A feverish activity occupies the spacious rooms Research and Studies Institutein whose premises a Police Academy moved here in 2014 from Donetsk after the Russian occupation of the city. dozens of young they strive to cut with scissors pants, shirts and dark colored clothes. Once the tissues have been converted into small pieces between four and five centimeters width and lengththese are adhered to some networks, extended on a rope that, once completed, will become camouflage mesh for hide and hide to military vehicles ukrainian army and shelter them from russian bombing.
Donated by the population
Victoria Seppotsova60 years old, a former teacher at the center but currently dedicated to organizing the research work, explains that all the material they use to make the meshes is donated by the civil population and brought here by “volunteers”. “Do you see that net over there? We use all day yesterday making it,” she says proudly, pointing to a finished product. “The mood of the local population he is military; we will not deliver nor our land either Our city, We are going to defend it to the last man,” he promises, defiantly.
“No one is going to give up”
“No one is going to give up, conquering (the city) would be very difficult for them; it is very long, almost 130 kilometers long, they will need thousands of armored and planes, (Russian forces) will not be able to break through the open-air mines and the hills surrounding these mines; In addition, the town is full of bridges that will be very easy to blow up to prevent them from advancing,” he lists Filip YeprintsevAcademy Commander. His knowledge of military strategy allows him to identify the geographical and physical similarities between Krivyy Rih and the old Stalingrad, where the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany was conceived. “The climate is the same, because we are at the same latitudeand also the urban structure, they will not be able“, he notes.
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In fact, the first military skirmishes to gain control of such a precious military objective could already have begun. A couple of days ago, a column made up of an undetermined number of armored vehicles left the town of Mikolaivclose to Crimea and the already conquered Khersonmoving north on a mission described by Judge Nesterenko as “of exploration and reconnaissance“. According to Sergey Zherebylochairman of the Ingulets district council, members of the so-called Territorial Defense (civilians armed and trained by the Army) went out to meet them and managed to stop the advance up to the population of Bashtankaabout 60 kilometers to the southwest, and “destroy” the military entourage.
“Today, Ukraine has united like never before; there is no political confrontation between us; I have never seen so much patriotism in the people, this is a war against the occupants“, underlines this municipal officialclinching his speech with the same expression in the Russian language that was used in the USSR and in thousands of Soviet patriotic songs to refer to the second world war: narodnaya berettranslated as the “people’s war”.