With huge blue and yellow wings on her back, the colors of the Ukrainian flag, Marina rides her motorcycle through the streets of Lviv, smiling, but without any hope of finding the lovers of the henna tattoos she designed.
“There are no customers for tattoos this year. I don’t know if it will happen this summer because of the war,” knows this young woman. “It’s unbearable. My soul aches for my country and my people,” she adds, reluctant to reveal her age and surname.
This large city in western Ukraine, with a population of 700,000 before the war, welcomed 1.5 million tourists in 2021.
However, with the Russian invasion launched on February 24, foreign visitors disappeared, making room for displaced people fleeing conflicts in other parts of the country.
Close to the Polish border, this town is relatively free from bombing and violence for now.
Still, many of its architectural jewels have been strengthened, and many sculptures are now covered with screens or a protective box.
The customers of the souvenir shop are now abandoned Ukrainians, volunteers or foreign journalists.
Near the central square of Lviv, Tarass Gordienko patiently waits under a cloudy sky for a client to come to visit the city in his golf cart.
He resigned, saying, “There is no job these days. We have no tourists, only refugees.”
Tarass explains that she guided a mother and son who had fled the besieged city of Mariupol, and after spending weeks in basements shielding themselves from bombs, she confessed to herself the joy of being outside.
Most of these displaced persons, mainly women and children, settled in or passed through the city on their way to Poland or other European Union countries.
A small tourist souvenir market has all kinds of souvenirs on the shelves, from floral scarves to patriotic bracelets to toilet paper with the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Sonia, 13, bought a large blue and yellow flag decorated with pom-poms.
“I bought the Ukrainian flag because it’s my nation and I support it,” said the Kiev youth, adding immediately: “I know it won’t really help…”.
Like his brother, he wants to hang out in his new home. With her is her aunt, who fled from Kharkiv (northeast), Ukraine’s second largest city, which is bombed almost daily by Russian forces.
source: Noticias
