Ukraine: In Odessa, residents are preparing and waiting

On the shores of the Black Sea, Odessa, which has been living for days in the agony of an impending Russian attack, seemed deceptively quiet today.

Everyone was trying to continue their daily routine as normally as possible. And everyone was expecting the worst.

The Russians are preparing to bomb this strategically important city, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned earlier, calling it a “historic crime.”

After the announcement, there was no particular panic in the city. The sound of the siren – which is heard many times a day since the beginning of the war – seemed to leave passers-by indifferent.

“We got used to it very quickly,” commented one student, Nastia. “In the beginning, we bounced, we wanted to run to the shelters but now…” Zelenski’s announcements did not stress her anymore. “He already said that last week,” he recalled.

Behind this apparent “normality”, Odessa is preparing. At the entrance to the city, Ukrainian soldiers have set up checkpoints. Families fill the trunks of their cars to leave.

According to a city councilor, Mikhail Smukhovich, more than 100,000 people have already fled the city, one in four of which has a population of more than 1 million.

In the city where the famous stroller unfolds on the stairs, in the “Battleship Potemkin”, roadblocks, stacked sandbags and metal beams rise at intersections and in front of strategically important infrastructure, such as the port and the town hall.

The center of Odessa is almost deserted and quiet – except for a few small streets where customers still drink their coffee in the shops.

“We will survive”

Some, few, passers-by return to their homes, with shopping in hand.

Irina and Alexander Pivovartsik are two of them. He, unshaven and with deep wrinkles on his face, smiles when asked how he feels. “Normally,” he replies.

“We have no hope left,” Irina intervenes. As every day, they will return home, lock up and sit down to eat. “We will survive,” says Alexander.

A little further on, Ania, a 26-year-old woman who looks younger, like a teenager, admits that she has panicked. But only her eyes betray fear. She had gone shopping with her friends and has prepared her apartment and basement to face the future.

A few blocks away, the restaurants of the Odessa Food Market have been turned into food and clothing depots for the “guards”, the “parallel army” of volunteer citizens.

Around the huge dragon that was hung to celebrate Chinese New Year – in early February, an eternity ago – and in front of a sign that advertises “oils and wine”, volunteers arrange things, sort them out, some chatter.

Petro Obukov, a member of the local municipal council, is proudly watching the area. “We have been opening this center since the first days of the invasion and people come every day to bring food and clothes,” he says.

“We were shocked, we wanted to do something to help our fighters and we were given this opportunity,” said Inga Kordinowska, a young woman who came up with the idea of ​​collecting basic necessities. “Before, I was a lawyer. Everything changed in one day,” he says.

“We are preparing. It can happen at any time. Although, you can never be ready for that,” said Deputy Mayor Mikhail Smukhovich.

Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ