The heavy task of cleaning up the ruins in Kharkov: “I want my country to quickly return to what it is”

It’s not three days. It’s not even a walk: it’s necessary more than two months. It is now believed that May 9 could be an important date where Vladimir Putin I will summon all the men who can fight to join the Army to attack the enemy again Ukraine.

But it also says if not: that nothing will happen and the war will begin to show signs of chronification. That it takes over time is bad for everyone, but for Russia that situation takes the form of a defeat.

Meanwhile, the fighting continues. The invader’s fire in the East was unsatisfactory and did not seem to respond to a planned strategy. This week, in a step that speaks more of desperation than audacity, a top Russian general literally descended on the front lines to command his troops flagging.

He was about to fall into an ambush set by the local army and they had to evacuate him in an emergencywhen rumors of their murder spread.

The Russians are testing missiles here and there, but not at specific targets. They were hurt and they were scared in different cities. But they don’t show the ability to take risks or even run down the battle line.

Quite the opposite: the Pentagon revealed on Tuesday that according to information from the Ukrainian Army, Russian troops have never breathed in the suburbs of Kharkov, the great city of the East, where Clarionthey should return about 20 kilometers.

This means that the Ukrainians came in a systematic way taking back village which is in the hands of Russia. The invading army is this Tuesday of 40 kilometers of the destroyed urban center of this magnanimous city.

Here the bombings continue, but they are sparse. The sirens sound three or four times a day. Artillery fire, too, is often heard. But Kharkov was far from being hell in the first three weeks of the attack or throughout March.

So practical Unable to sleep. Only underground, at Metro stations, it is safe. At night, from the super fire, the sky is dyed with a orange and sterility.

The women and men now walking over rocks and bent iron want it all over. But they don’t want it at any price.

When they talk about the future, they talk about the Ukrainian victory, they hope that their Army will “soon expel the enemy”. They have no doubt that they will win, they do not hesitateeven if they are performing a heavy and cumbersome task: clean up the small debris of a school destroyed by a missile.

clean up the rubble

That’s the general context in which the visit Clarion to a crew of volunteers dedicated to the heavy task of clearing the ruinsto clean up the gone, the Kharkov rubble cleaners.

They are another sign of the broad solidarity that runs among all Ukrainians who have not emigrated and are not resisting. He who does not resist help in any way. In the city of the East, where almost everything is dilapidated, the number of volunteers cleaning the ruins It doesn’t stop growing. The Russians destroyed the material, but not the spirit of these people and more so their morals.

The crew left early, in different parts of the city, and worked hard and evenly until one o’clock in the afternoon. At that time, a white van was parked in the area. Beside him they built a kitchen and shared Borsch deliveriesthe exquisite beetroot soup, for all workers.

Clarion he visited them in the ruins of a destroyed school on the outskirts of Kharkov. There was Igor, the welfare organizer, willing to say what they were doing.

“We’re cleaning,” he said. we separate what works from what doesn’t. We will first wait for the government to tell us there is no risk. Let’s check out the place. Then, let’s get to work. Work at this school can take a long time because of what you see the destruction is complete”.

They are women and men between the ages of 20 and 60 who work hard and are in good spirits. They pick up every stone and throw it away a mountain of rocks. It does the same with wood and steel beams. The work ahead of them was overwhelming but at the same time it seemed like that Everyone knows what to do.

A girl has not removed her headphones and is listening to music, it shows. As he does, he commands documents and papers They will go to another pile. He was kneeling in the dust, accustomed. Another woman rescued educational manuals which burned but still good. They stacked them on one side of the sidewalk and climbed over the rubble again to continue the search.

Marine, biochemist, 51 years old, thin and small, round glasses with red frame, military green jacket, but from a fashion store; blue suede, borcegos, work gloves. He’s a biochemist: “I want my country to quickly get back to what it is, so I’m here,” he said.

Your child is coming soon. “I haven’t worked since the war started. I soon asked how I could help. It’s a way to help and well, I do what they ask of me. Now all this is taken by the truck ”, he said and pointed to the crane that collects the garbage and throws it in the container that will take it out.

Then came Borsch and someone asked the Argentines if any of them had tasted the blessed soup of these lands. They joke about the roast and compare it to their delicious broth. In a friendly tone, with security and calm that gives someone the reassurance (and they seem to have) that the worst can end.

Kharkov, special envoy

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