As British cities did at that time lightningFrustrated aerial bombardment campaign launched by Hitler try to subdue United Kingdom during II. World War, Ukrainian peers also turned off the light. They did this at the beginning of the invasion, and now they’re doing it again. When night falls, the lights do not turn on. street lighting. The streets are empty and you are walking in the dark among the shadows of a few cars driving around and the flashing of traffic lights. The confessed intention of the authorities is no longer to hide the visibility of the incident. Russian aviationone of the biggest losses war, but in energy conservation before the winter of stalactites freezing the horizon. But there is a city that does not sleep, with or without light, night does not bring more death, insomnia disease Y demolition.
Zaporizhia inside ukrainian mythology most homeland of the Cossacksa seed of independence Slavic warriors they failed to see that the country that made them the cornerstone is now fighting to protect it. for two weeks russian missiles and her kamikaze drones Iranian production falls every day in this city under Ukrainian control. in the south of the country. a city 720.000 population It’s like a giant dynamo in peacetime.
not just houses Europe’s largest nuclear power plantbut also the biggest hydroelectric of the Dnieper River, fourth longest on the continent. So not alone valuable strategic place; also a potential apocalypse. Blasting the reinforced concrete of the hydroelectric plant would flood the city and the plains to the south, awakening the genius of the plant, awakening the genius of the plant, more than once since the beginning of the war, I would Chernobyl Y fukushima something like a retrospective X-ray session.
All this would help to understand why its inhabitants are not sleeping, if not because their concerns are more epidermal and urgent. “I’ve started taking medication to sleep at night, but it’s not helping me at all,” she says. Serafina Reikova, a 26-year-old anesthesiologist. “I have tachycardiaI start sweating and sooner or later panic attacks. I tell myself it’s temporary, but my body is not responding. A week ago, at around two in the morning, a Russian missile blew up his apartment building. this fireball glided through corridors and collapsed nine floors of an entire wing of the building. Fifteen people died.
Military climbing after annexation
“This is a lower-middle-class neighborhood. No infrastructures. I couldn’t figure out what the purpose was. Russians are either out of their minds or not human,” Reikova said as she put those saved from burning, such as an oven, a refrigerator, or a bag of clothes, into a van. not Zaporizhia Groznynone Mariupol none Halep. neither is he Beirut wave Loop between Israelis. The city has remained largely intact after almost eight months of war, but not since the war’s end. “Referendum” at gunpoint inside occupied territories and the Kremlin will announce annexation of the Zaporizhia, herson and Donbas, missiles regularly rain down on different parts of the city. (It was less frequent before.) Since then 79 people died Y 200 people were injuredaccording to the local emergency department.
this south facade although only 30 kilometers away and Ukraine continues to save its territory, Russian forces control beside 70% of the province. Russia is trying to spread panic, but at the same time Pro-Russian population “The city that still exists is taking to the streets to demand that Ukraine leave the city and end the violence,” he said. Taras Tyshchenko, doctor and member of the Zaporiya Emergency Council, a civil-military body. “It is the next step of annexation from the Russian logic. They are trying to get the Ukrainian patriots to leave so they can do it. to conquer completely. What they don’t understand is that those left at this point are here to fight to the end.”
Without fear of conquest
this Zaporizhia city planning is like an open book. as in Odessa (southwest) or Dnieper (center), the city is no longer afraid of being conquered. At least in the short term. Even if they stay military checkpoints on highways and at some intersections railings, metallic hedgehog and the fortifications awaiting the invader in the first months of the war. The initiative is on the Ukrainian side. The fear stems from the arbitrariness of the bombings, although they hit some infrastructure and infrastructure. military points of interestmany war crimes counter applause civilian population. From residential buildings to public parking lots.
In other cases, simply praised precision missiles The Kremlin’s results are uncertain. A missile was killed on 6 October 17 people In an expensive apartment in the center of Zaporizhia, a soldier barracks. Something similar happened with Dnipro. Another missile devastated a market that had been closed for months and killed a security guard. Same market, less than 30 meters from one of the center National Security and one from the police.
second wave of immigration
None of this matters for a population that has been violently exterminated. everyday terror which started second wave of immigrationAccording to Tyshchenko, after he was released at the beginning of the war.
Lourdes Harchenko is one of those who pack her bags. She speaks a little Spanish after spending time in Castellón years ago. She is a swimmer and is studying medicine. She’s only 20 years old. The attack on his downtown residential building left him deaf for half an hour. She lived very close to she. She hid in the bathroom with her mother, and then she looked out the window. four people burned others returned from their homes naked and bloodied to retrieve their belongings.
Since then, every sound he’s heard frightens him. Can’t sleep at night. Neither anxiolytics nor sleeping pills have succeeded in restoring the former deep sleep. And now he’s drinking himself to sleep. “We had everything here: two houses, two cars… but we only have one life and are too afraid to continue here. Let’s go. Germany”, he says from a bench a few meters from the void in lives left by the Russian missile. It is night in Zaporizhia. Air raid sirens sound. Besides, it’s time for us to leave.