Alla Shally speaks to Andriy from Lviv, Ukraine, on March 2, 2022. Photo: Rudaw
LVIV, Ukraine - Embattled Kharkiv resembles a ghost town as Russian bombardment on the second-largest city in Ukraine intensifies, a Ukrainian civilian remaining and resisting in the capital city told Rudaw on Wednesday.
Andriy K., 37, is one of the many Ukrainians in Kharkiv who told Rudaw's Alla Shally that he is not willing to leave his home. He is confident that Russia will eventually be defeated in Ukraine.
Describing the situation in Kharkiv as "really bizarre", Andriy, an IT expert, explained what it was like in Kharkiv. “We have constant air raids. Some people shelter in their homes... Some of them [take] shelter like in our metro stations...It is really strange because nobody is prepared for the war."
The Russian invasion of Ukraine entered its eighth day on Thursday, causing massive human losses and material damages. The invasion is the biggest conflict that Europe has seen in decades.
"Russia destroyed half of the Kharkik city center, like all the buildings almost 300 years old with rockets, with bombing from airplanes, like fighter planes, bomber planes. That is really stressful," he went on. "Our people are very very angry, very very angry.”
"Some of my friends left for Kyiv, some of them left Ukraine, and some of them joined the Ukrainian armed forces," Andriy continued.
Over one million people have now fled Ukraine into neighboring countries in the wake of the Russian invasion, the United Nations refugee agency said on Thursday.
Asked whether people have stocked up on enough food and water or whether they are able to walk outdoors, the stranded Ukrainian in Kharkiv explained, there is a "curfew" in place from sunset to sunrise, describing the situation as "really scary."
“My mother lives in [a] different apartment. So, I visited her like yesterday. It is really strange because they are almost empty streets and you hear constant rockets flying and Russian artillery." Andriy told Rudaw that he is not willing to leave Kharkiv because, "This is my home… I have [my] mom here, she does not want to leave."
Russia is facing mounting international opposition and becoming increasingly isolated as the United States and its allies continue to expand economic, diplomatic, and cultural sanctions on the country.
The Russian offensive on a UN-recognized sovereign state prompted the General Assembly to hold an emergency session requested by the Security Council to overwhelmingly condemn the invasion, calling on Putin to withdraw his forces from Ukraine.
The resolution was backed by 141 countries which deplored “in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine” and called on Putin to cease the use of force and “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces”.
Iraq abstained, in an attempt to maintain neutrality and to balance its relations with both the US and Russia.
"Most of the Ukrainian population do not want to end [up] surrendering to Russia, that is what differs us from Russians," Andriy concluded.
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