By Serhiy Petrov
The heroic defense of Kharkiv and of this city’s life in conditions of constant shelling by muscovite troops has gone on for seven weeks. The shelling was intense today as well, especially at night, in the morning, and in the evening.
After yesterday’s news of the apprehension of viktor mertvetchuk (a portmanteau of the Ukrainian word “dead” and “Medvedchuk”), the muscovites seemed to become furious. They mercilessly fired on various parts of the city during the night. They were also active in the morning, after which they calmed down somewhat. Then followed a flareup of russist activity in the middle of the day and in the evening, which lasted until late. The Department of Civil Defense even asked citizens not to go outside because of the danger of shelling in various areas.
Areas most affected were Saltivka (a lot in Pivnichna Saltivka and Skhidna Saltivka), Obriy, the Kharkiv Tractor Plant neighborhood, and Selyshche Zhukovskoho. Shelling was slightly less intense in Pyatykhatky, Oleksiyivka, Lysa Hora, and Novi Budynky. There are dead and wounded, as well as destroyed and damaged buildings.
Out in the suburbs, shelling continued in Derhachi and the surrounding villages a well as in Slatyne. It was also not quiet in the Chuhuiv direction.
The city has been existing in two parallel realities. There are the northern suburbs (excluding Oleksiyivka) and Obriy. These are areas where stores are closed because of total or partial lack of electricity and danger to the staff, and where people stay in basements, dependent on humanitarian aid for survival. And then there’s the rest of the city, where life is gradually improving. There are functioning supermarkets (their selection differs depending on the area and the chain), markets, clothing stores, household-goods stores, and so on, as well as barber shops and beauty salons.
In two zones of the city center affected by artillery and air strikes, nothing is open due to destroyed and damaged buildings.
According to the City Council, about 1,980 buildings have been damaged in Kharkiv, including more than 1,670 residential buildings and 75 schools (out of 200 total, including private ones). City services have repaired some of the roofs in 524 residential buildings that were damaged, and further repairs are underway. The restoration of water supply networks is also underway. More and more buildings are getting hot water again.
The changes that have taken place over the last seven weeks are huge, going from shortages of bread and the most basic products to their abundance and open cafes and restaurants. Of course, the assortment of products isn’t as wide as it was in mid-February. On the other hand, the constant shelling, covering such a wide range, makes even a limited relaunch of public transportation too dangerous.
Evacuation of the surviving animals from the Feldman Ecopark (zoo) was completed today. The operation, which lasted for many days thanks to the efforts of volunteers, with the help of philanthropists and other cities’ authorities, has ended. At the same time, evacuation of horses from the youth equestrian school in the village of Mala Danylivka (center of the Malodanylivska village community) where one of the departments of State Biotechnological University (formerly Kharkiv Zooveterinary Academy) is located, has begun.
The Kharkiv Dolphinarium is running out of fish. Their call for help was their first post in Ukrainian on social networks. In my opinion, the dolphinarium in Kharkiv should be liquidated, and the dolphins should be returned to their natural habitat. Keeping them in artificial conditions is a violation of animal rights. Where’s Greenpeace when you need them? Or is it an imitation of an organization, like the International Committee of the Red Cross?
I won’t talk about the successes of our troops. They have taken place, but not all this information is being made public. Of course, living under fire means risking one’s life, but our military is taking many measures to fight the occupiers. It is known that two planes were shot down in the Kharkiv region during the day—they’re done flying.
As for the broader region, fighting continues in the Izyum area and in the Barvinkove direction. The muscovites are throwing reinforcements there, but our brave warriors are holding back the enemy and striking them together with their equipment. According to the prosecutor’s office, three people including a 16-year-old girl were killed and another was injured in yesterday’s shooting of Barvinkove. Evacuation from Barvinkove and Lozova continues. People are urged to leave Barvinkove. The same goes for Donetsk and Luhansk regions—all in order to give our military room to operate and freedom to fight the muscovites.
Fighting continues for Rubizhne and Popasna, near Severodonetsk, but without success for the muscovites. They have also been unsuccessful in the direction of Vuhledar and Velyka Novosilka, despite their accumulation of reserves.
Severe pressure on the population continues in the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. A torture chamber, similar to the Donetsk “Izolyatsia,” has been set up in Kherson. Businesses in these areas are being forced to pay a “tribute.” They’re also planning to annex Kherson to the occupied Crimea, like some kind of a Taurida Governorate, since the Kharkiv People’s Republic didn’t work out for them, and local governments didn’t want to cooperate with the occupier.
But, according to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, about 70 muscovite occupiers have “disappeared” within the last month in Melitopol while patrolling the city. I wonder how they managed to self-annihilate into space-time?
People in Ivano-Frankivsk have gotten rid of all the colonization names. Chekhov Street was renamed to Heroes of Kharkiv. Thank you, obviously! But it wasn’t all free of bullshit nonsense. Along with others, they renamed Repin Street. Repin was a famous Ukrainian artist, originally from Chuhuiv. In short, Martsynkiv and all the representatives on the Ivano-Frankivsk City Council receive the “morons of the day” award! That’s because they’re actually morons!
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe has become another organization that has shown itself to be unnecessary. Not only did they announce that starting on April 1 they wouldn’t consider the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic a party to the conflict, they also didn’t record the systematic attacks against the civilian population of Ukraine. This was after many world leaders had recognized that what has taken place in Ukraine is genocide. The whole system of international and European security has broken down. It must be demolished and rebuilt.
There’s a state of unease in the Kursk region of moscovia. According to the local governor, the checkpoint on the border with Ukraine (somewhere in the cuts) was fired upon. (By the way, based on the governor’s posts online, he is a big winner, fighting dark forces and defeating everyone. Meanwhile in Kursk, a large portion of one of the yards sank, leaving a hole with water roaring at the bottom.) This was a typical muscovite provocation, after which they even announced that if Ukraine continues such provocations, moscovia will strike government building, which they hadn’t done so far.
Really??? What about the buildings of the Kharkiv and Nikolaev regional state administrations that were destroyed, and a heap of destroyed administrative buildings in various cities and villages of Ukraine? But this is muscovites for you. What else do you expect?
The State Duma of moscovia is concerned that children in the muscovite-occupied Ukrainian territories have little or no knowledge of the muscovite language. They’re talking about Kharkiv, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya, which are considered muscovite-speaking regions. To fix this, children will be sent to special camps for language learning (and ideological brainwashing).
There’s good news from the Black Sea. The Russian warship, the flagship of moscovia’s Black Sea fleet, the cruiser Moskva—the one that was told to go fuck itself earlier—actually went in the direction that was recommended. The Ukrainian Armed Forces hit it with two Neptunes (just to make sure), which finally became part of the arsenal in 2022, instead of 2019, as was planned during Poroshenko’s regime. And now Moskva is on fire (so symbolic!). The situation is complicated by stormy weather. Moscovia said that “ammunition detonated” aboard, severely damaging the ship and forcing the crew to evacuate. But revenge for Snake Island is a dish best served cold. Looks like it will be a long time before the cruiser is repaired—that is if it doesn’t sink…
Today’s Darwin Awards go to:
- Aksana Marchenka, who, in order to appeal to Erdogan about the detention of her russist-collaborator husband, dressed as some kind of counterfeit Muslim “Natasha.” Nice try. The internet promptly exploded with a large number of photo memes. To add insult to injury, in moscovia, by the power of (Dmitry) Peskov himself, mertvetchuk to his own recognizance.
- President of France Emanuel Macron, whom Ukrainians often call micron,” because of his cowardly position, for saying that Ukrainians and muscovites are “brotherly people,” and that there is no genocide in Ukraine. Really? Nice brotherhood! It’s about as brotherly as between the French and the British during the Hundred Years’ War, or between the French and the Germans during the German-French War of 1870-1871, or during the First and Second World Wars. What a brotherhood! We have another Steinmeier on our hands, forgive me God!
Let us believe in our Armed Forces, the National Security Service, and the Territorial Defense! Let us help volunteers, doctors, rescuers, and public utility workers. Let us support each other! Everything will be, Ukraine!
