At first consistent and deafening, the sound of sirens and the thunder of bombings gradually faded away. A clear indication of the good progress of the counter-offensive launched by Ukrainian forces to loosen the leash around Kharkiv and put the city out of reach of Russian artillery.
The roads outside the city, strewn with burning armored vehicles, were as numerous as traces of the very violent fighting that took place there. Destroyed by Russian forces in the early days of the invasion, the country’s second city was heavily bombed, causing a large portion of its population to flee. But as the relatively calm progresses, more and more citizens are tempted to return.
Oleksandr and Lyudmila Nishcheta even went beyond the city limits. Because this retired couple owns a house in Vil’Khiva, about fifteen kilometers east of Kharkiv. The journey to get there is full of pitfalls.
Ukraine’s army checkpoints are numerous and in each of them, soldiers have multiplied warnings: the situation is continuous and changing; the area is still subject to occasional bombing; Retirees must understand that they go there at their own risk. Quickly, rows of houses collapsed on each side of the road proving that clashes didn’t just ruin military targets.
But coming to the front of their house, they were greeted by a concert of playful barking. Rigik, the neighbor’s dog they thought was dead, ran towards Lyudmila and covered it with saliva by the intense licking of his tongue. Overwhelmed with emotion, the sixty-year-old, relieved, hugged and caressed him, repeated words reassuring him.
But once they enter the gate of the property, a sad scene awaits them. A shell dug a large crater in the garden and smashed the facade. Oleksandr sighed as he walked over the lips and shook his head furiously, repeating to himself aloud: It was a nightmare, it was horrible. He then told us: This is the look of Russia’s peace.
Her husband accompanies her and shares in her suffering. They quietly observed the facade and then made a friendly sign in place of the two Ukrainian soldiers guarding the neighborhood. This is our land, our motherlandOleksandr recalled with determination. And no one will force us out of it. His wife nodded. He said his sense of belonging to the Ukrainians had increased since the February 24 invasion.
” We are strong. And no one has made us as strong and united as Vladimir Putin himself. nobody. “
Like most residents of the Kharkiv region, retired couples have Russian as their native language. But when he saw traces of the presence of Russian soldiers in his house, he felt the gap between hatred and contempt.
He is even more annoyed that Russian speakers like him have served as a pretext for Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine. It is said that peaceful Russian soldiers came to free ushe said ironically. Free us from what? I do not know. So far, most of them have freed us from the Russian language.
One last sentence he chose to recite slowly and in Ukrainian to emphasize its importance. Like him, many Russian -speaking Ukrainians are now ashamed of speaking their own language and choose to speak Ukrainian today. As they left, Oleksandr and Lyudmila heard the neighbors, the ones left behind. Like Vasiliy Orinchin, 87, who didn’t move into his home throughout the job. The weak silhouette, the arch in the back, the old man quoted an old proverb to explain himself.
” Where I was born, where I was baptized, there I will die. “
The man told us he saw Russian soldiers on the street in front of his house a few weeks ago while looking out the window. He takes us to the back of his little home to show us the memories that we left him.
An unexploded rocket was stuck in the dirt, prominently less than a meter from the wall of his house. He said it fell in the middle of the night, that it woke him up, because the walls shook. They bombed and it fell on my househe just ends before adding, a smile in his eyes: Me, I didn’t ask.
Vasiliy vows to stay at home until the visit of Ukrainian deminers. He also felt safer as the Russian soldiers left the surrounding towns and villages.
A dull roar could be heard throughout the village. Two heavy tracked artillery climbed Vil’khivka. The 203mm motor guns suddenly stopped in a field and positioned themselves, side by side. A swarm of Operators immediately spread around to charge them and point them in the right direction.
Two claps of thunder suddenly erupted in the sky as a large ball of fire exploded from the muzzles of the cannons. The operation only took a few minutes. Quickly, after the gunfire, the gunners began to pack. Because these weapons of old design, a legacy of the Soviet era, are vulnerable to counter-attacks. That is why Ukrainian soldiers rely on mobility and atypical firing configurations to thwart the enemy.
Speed of action and good knowledge of the terrain are important assets in the eyes of Kran, the commander of the special unit called Tuman, which means fog. The tall man with the full beard looked like a pretty kind grandfather. But the steel stare we see behind his ballistic mirror and the Kalashnikov he carries on his shoulder has no doubt about his determination.
We are all convinced that we will win, he confirmed, simultaneously pointing at his staff with his hand. He provokes the excessive tightness of the chain of command of the Russian army, its problems with the supply, logistics and low morale of its troops because there are so many factors that burden the enemy and favor the kyiv troops on the ground. But, according to him, it is the relentless motivation of Ukrainian fighters that makes a difference.
” We fight to protect our land, our motherland, our women, our children, our future. There is no better motivation. “
His right arm, nom de guerre Westtaking us to the adjacent bunker to show us his collection of trophy. A series of weapons left behind by Russian troops lined the concrete wall. RPG7 rocket launcher, machine gun duchkaa gun sniper Dragunov. Gifts from Russiahe said, ironically.
But it was another gift, this one from Britain, that proved most useful on the battlefield. Orest shows us the NLAW prominent in the bunker, a very modern anti-tank rocket launcher, which destroyed many Russian tanks.
The officer took the opportunity to launch an appeal to Western countries, asking them to provide the Ukrainian army with more modern weapons and special equipment such as night sights. The only way, according to him, to quickly end the conflict and thus reduce the loss of human life.
A cruel and futile war whose end is impatiently awaited by Oleksandr and Lyudmila, referring to its heavy damage; the tens of thousands of victims and the millions of people who are now homeless.
Leaving the nearly destroyed house, feeling the sadness and despair of his wife, Oleksandr hugged him and whispered in his ear: We build everything, don’t worry.
Source: Radio-Canada
