The inhabitants of Saltovka cannot understand why Russia wanted to destroy the inhabitants of a Russian-speaking metropolis, some of whom are even Russian citizens.
Kharkiv Residents deported by the Russian invasion are gradually daring to stop by their homes in the huge suburb of Saltovka. A shocking surprise awaits many – one can hardly ever live in a home again.
Kharkov’s largest suburb has been almost empty since Russian troops marched a couple of kilometers from the suburbs in March.
With its tanks and cannons, Russia grinded the suburbs bluntly until Ukraine forced Russian troops to retreat. Grenades are still raining in the suburbs, but less than before.
The roar of the cannons is still heard continuously and explosive shots echo from the walls of the apartment buildings.
On a sunny weekend Aleksandr Durihin dares to inspect his brother’s apartment.
At the door, park next to the car wreck, in the middle of shards of glass and pieces of concrete.
– Look what a miracle has happened here, Durihin says.
He picks up his cell phone and puts the views straight on his brother, who and his family are a refugee far from Kharkov. The upper floors of the house are shattered.
An ice fall broke inside the apartment
Once the depressing exterior is done, Duri digs the keys out of his pocket. They have not been needed for ages.
The brother’s one-bedroom apartment is in a Soviet-era house, on its third floor. The house is a huge colossus, 240 meters long and nine storeys high.
Although the gray stairwells are bumpy and dirty, people had decorated their apartments beautifully.
However, inside the brother’s apartment awaits just as depressing a sight as outside. The pipes that have broken up in the upper floors have thoroughly wetted everything. In the winter, the water froze and formed an ice fall inside the flats – it was revealed at the last inspection.
Now the fine ceilings in every room have collapsed. The smell of spoiled food floods the kitchen, as the electricity has been broken for a long time. Due to the sudden departure, the food was left in the cupboards.
– A direct hit came here, as you saw on the facade of the house. It went through the house. A massive fascist-Russian missile strike, Durihin says.
Durihin says his brother and his family saved his entire life for this apartment.
– This is a really tough place. People will be left homeless, Durihin says.
While this apartment may still be repairable, the condition of the other parts of the building will be crucial.
No one yet knows what the fate of the building is – whether the rest of it will have to be blown up, or whether a huge repair contract will be undertaken, and who would pay for it in the end.
– I think there is some support from Europe. Thank you to them and the rest of the world for helping us in this situation, Durihin says.
The street was named after the friendship between the peoples
The apartment building belongs to the North Saltovka suburb in the northeast corner of the million city of Kharkiv. Before the war, the entire Saltovka area was inhabited by perhaps half a million people – almost as many as Helsinki.
Ukrainians say this to Saltivka, but this time let Saltovka be Russian, because almost everyone here speaks Russian. They talk but no longer like Russia.
The common language is no surprise, as we are close to Russia, which is only 27 kilometers as the crow flies. The families live on both sides of the border.
Now, however, it is the nearest neighbor that has destroyed the property and security of all Saltovans. Relationships between relatives are being tested.
– Both Ukrainians and Russians suffer because of the ambition of a single person. Greetings to Putin, Durihin says ironically.
The apartment building is located on a street called the Street of Friendship between Nations. There was no need to even mention which peoples, because it is, of course, Ukraine and Russia.
Russia showed that friendship by bombarding everything.
And it’s not over yet. Russian troops are still only 16 kilometers away. It’s not a cannon trip or anything.
Both relatives and enemy soldiers can be found in Buryatia, Russia
On the same street, there has been evidence of friendship between peoples as well Oleg Vasilievichwho has brought Lada full of family members to look at his mother – in – law ‘s home.
– This is ridiculous. I have a sister and relatives in Buryatia, Russia. And then I heard that it was the Buryatian armored men who had fought here, Vasilievich says.
Vasilievich is on his bike because Putin’s attack destroyed everything that has ever been between Ukraine and Russia.
– Now I am shocked that our relatives live there, Vasilievich says.
However, ordinary people can only collect the fragments of their lives broken by the war and try to continue.
Vasilievich is grateful that the mother-in-law’s apartment is repairable – if the building is left upright.
Only the window panes are broken. Now he has attached plastic films to all the window openings so that the weather does not cause further damage inside.
The apartment also has some grenade shards. At least they can be seen on the roof. However, it is small – so many walls in the suburbs look like they are perforated by fragments.
“How can anyone shoot a house with a howitzer – it’s crazy”
Vasilievich’s gaze slowly circulates in the apartment. The apartment can hold so many memories. He himself lived in this apartment for a long time as an adult until the family recently moved out. His teenage twin boys have grown up here.
Vasilievich collects a little stuff from the apartment for better security.
– The micro could no longer fit in the car, even if the family wanted to, according to Vasilievich.
No matter how hard you try to understand Russia, Vasilievich no longer knows. Why on earth did this have to happen?
– They shot here with 150mm howitzers. They become holes as big as I am long. How can anyone shoot such residential houses, Vasilievich says.
– It’s crazy, he adds.
After all, no soldiers have stayed here.
Vasilievich is speechless for a moment, but then continues.
– This is a nightmare, and we are still completely upset, Vasilievich says.
Lada dodges the bumps of grenades
Vasilievich says he has a Russian passport and lived in Russia as a child. However, Russia is no longer his real homeland.
According to Vasilievich, Russia has done everything in its power to increase the love of the Ukrainian homeland. Vasilyevich’s homeland is now Ukraine.
The rest of the family is already rushing, so Vasilievich says goodbye. Let’s still take a photo of the whole family in front of Lada, with their own homes.
Soon Lada – or actually it is Zhiguli, Lada’s Russian domestic market brand – rumbles down the street, farther from the front.
The street is empty by the way, but Vasilievich has to be careful of the pits made by grenades. There are many of them.
Maybe Saltovka is still rising, but friendship between peoples – it’s dead.