In Ukraine, bombings have been occurring daily for several weeks on the country’s second city, Kharkiv, just 30 kilometers from the Russian border. The Kremlin army targets critical and energy infrastructures, but missiles or guided gliding bombs also fall in the city center, as in the former “Pushkin Street”, now renamed.
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With our special correspondent in Kharkiv, Stéphane Siohan
In Kharkiv, in the Makers cafe, even at noon it is difficult to see daylight. Because all the openings were replaced by plywood sheets, after a bombing which ravaged a good part of the street, as Dmytro Kabanets, owner of the bar, tells us.
“ It happened at 10 p.m., and a quarter of an hour later, I arrived. I opened the room, all the windows had been shattered. One of my bartenders was already there, and the first thing that came to mind was that we needed to make coffee. The next day, at 8 a.m., we were already operating as usual, but there was some damage. “, he says.
“ I don’t like the bombings, but I love my city »
In the town northeast of theUkraine, deserted in 2022, nearly a million residents have returned, and Dmytro has noticed a real boom in the creation of shops and small businesses. For some, working in Kharkiv is an act of resistance. Thus, despite the power cuts, Anna Zori, a young entrepreneur who makes handbags, refuses to exile her production.
“ I don’t like the bombings, but I love my city. I don’t want to leave, I want to live here. One of the principles of my work is that I want to make bags made in Kharkiv, and not in kyiv. The city continues to live when people stay there. I want to be Ukrainian in Kharkiv, and this is my way of protesting against the Russians. »
The only reason that would push Anna to leave would be if, unfortunately, the Russians managed to raise their flag in the city.
Read alsoUkraine: protecting the skies of Kharkiv and Sumy and the civilian populations, an absolute priority for Zelensky
Russia is trying to “ take advantage of Ukraine’s current weakness »
While Ukrainian soldiers are desperately waiting for the ammunition promised by the Americans, the Russians are trying to take advantage of this to gain ground. They have increased their attacks over the past three weeks to conquer villages like Otcheretyne, close to Avdiivka, this town which was conquered last February on the eastern front. For General Dominique Trinquand, former head of the French mission to the United Nations it’s about “
to take advantage of Ukraine’s current weakness. A weakness in three areas. The materials and ammunition have not yet arrived. The Ukrainian defense has not yet fully established itself, they have fallen a little behind. And finally, the mobilization in Ukraine is still partial and they lack personnel. So, these three reasons are currently pushing Russia to take advantage of its advantage and try to gain as much ground as possible. There is a shortage of ammunition, it’s totally obvious. Now there are weapons stocks and ammunition stocks. Ammunition stocks can go very quickly. Some of this ammunition was already present in Poland or Germany, and can be transported quickly. This corresponds to Ukraine’s immediate needs. So, I think that in the immediate future, the important thing is to bring ammunition and, secondly, to bring equipment: anti-aircraft equipment, in particular the patriots with patriotic ammunition… Not so much for the front, but to defend Ukrainian cities.
» General Dominique Trinquand is the author of the book