People are driven out into the street during an alarm, the opportunity to swim is sold for a lot of money
The threat of full-scale hostilities looms over Odessa. This is not the first time that the Armed Forces of Ukraine, using aircraft, drones and Western weapons, are trying to attack Zmeiny Island, which is under the control of Russian troops. Recently, drilling rigs were hit, which stand in the sea, 70 kilometers from the city. In response, up to 14 rockets were fired at military facilities. About how military hysteria is whipped up, general sabotage of mobilization, as well as how and how the port city lives, Odessans told MK.
Oleg worked in Urengoy for many years. And when he retired, he returned with his family to his parents' house in Odessa.
“I don’t watch local television, I can’t hear about all this de-Russification and decommunization,” says Oleg. – All key positions in power are occupied by people from Western Ukraine. A real personnel invasion. These visiting nationalists “rule the ball here.” The word “Russian” was removed from the name of the drama theater. Now they are going to rename Novomoskovskaya street, as well as Voronezhskaya, Borodinskaya, Kurskaya… Even Chapaeva street is going to change its name. On the other hand, the Great Britain Square may appear in Odessa, as well as the Heroes of Mariupol Street – in memory of the ATO soldiers.
There were patriotic organizations that offered to transfer the monuments to Deribas and Potemkin to the museum. And melt down the bronze of Catherine II and use the metal for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
– Recently, a relative called from the Odessa region. They began to burn books by Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Chekhov in their village schools. It was announced that from September 1, such subjects as the Russian language and literature will no longer be in the school curriculum. It is even optionally forbidden to teach Russian. School libraries are clearing shelves for books by English, American and French writers.
In Odessa itself, as Oleg says, a similar decision has not yet been made. Mayor Trukhanov should decide on this issue in August. But he has long had a reputation among Odessans as a weather vane.
After oil rigs were bombed in the Black Sea, air raid sirens are increasingly heard in Odessa.
“There are bomb shelters in the city, but scandals break out with them every now and then,” says Elena, a resident of Odessa. – For example, the residents of all neighboring houses used to go down to the basement on Srednefontanskaya Street. And then the hostess showed up there, said that it was private property. She has a sewing shop there. And right at the time of the alarm, she kicked teenagers out of the shelter. The authorities had to intervene. The lady was explained that the owners of all types of shelters are obliged to let townspeople into the cellars during an air raid.
Elena gives another example of a shelter on Troitskaya Street. Previously, any of the townspeople could go down there. And then the basement was renovated. A lock appeared on the door, the keys to which only the residents of this house have. Outsiders cannot get there.
Elena's family, like many Odessans, stays at home when the alarm goes off, observing the rules of two walls.
– Everyone already knows that the safest place in the apartment is the hallway. The first wall can take on the force of the explosion, and the second – fragments. Someone jumps out onto the platform in the common corridor. Three walls already separate them from the street.
Our prices are almost the same. A liter of homemade milk costs 22 hryvnias (about 40 rubles), a kilogram of meat costs 100 hryvnias (180 rubles). At one time there was no salt, “Artyomsol” was bombed. Speculators immediately raised prices. But now salt can be bought freely without any markups. Pensions and salaries are paid without delay.
— Surprisingly, there are medicines. The situation with many drugs is even better than before. There are deliveries from abroad. Life-saving medicines can be obtained at humanitarian aid distribution points.
– Gasoline has risen in price, but for now, a liter costs from 52 to 59 hryvnias (from 92 to 106 rubles). But we drive diesel, a liter of fuel costs 57 hryvnia (103 rubles). There have already been cases when thieves poured gasoline from the tanks of cars at night.
Elena says that there are many refugees from the Lugansk region in Odessa. They are helped by both volunteers and citizens.
— People are now strongly rallied. They bring vegetables and twists to the needy. Someone sews linen for the wounded. Volunteers bring potatoes and arrange “bulbdays”, anyone can come to the specified address and take vegetables for free. The townspeople, in turn, are actively donating money for the Gazelle for volunteers.
But charitable organizations are also shaken by scandals. Soon the head of the charitable foundation will be tried in Odessa. A man who sold military ammunition received from abroad, intended for the army, can go to prison for the next 5-10 years. .
“To give them a summons, they can catch them on the street, in the gym, and at the bus stop,” says Andrey from Odessa. – Everything is legal! If you don’t come to the military registration and enlistment office without a good reason, you will be charged a fine of 3,400 hryvnias. And then you can end up in a colony. Before going outside, we study messages in telegram channels with a friend, where “messengers” were seen in the morning. Right now, for example, I saw that the police with the staff of the military enlistment office were “catching Pokemon” very close to us, at the exit from the Tavria supermarket on Varnenskaya. I decided not to leave the house.
Andrey says that the employees of the military commissar go around with agendas and from door to door. They also rewrite the numbers of cars that stand in the yards, so that later they can be compared with the lists of residents. There were cases when the doors of the apartments where the deviationists sat down were opened with the help of a grinder.
At the same time, as Odessa residents say, conscript carriers are constantly being caught in the city. Recently, for example, one such businessman was detained, who promised to bring anyone who would pay 3,000 dollars abroad. Now he can sit down for 7 years.
“But there is good news in all this hopelessness,” Andrey says. – Alcohol can now be purchased from 9 am to 8 pm. Prohibition is loosened.
Another of our interlocutors, Galina from Odessa, complains that she, like many state employees, has had her salary cut by a third. They explained: “Everything goes to the needs of the army.” The fare in minibuses has risen in price and now costs 15 hryvnias (27 rubles). In Odessa, they are afraid that gas prices will rise even more. But the authorities are assuring citizens that the difference in tariffs will be covered by international financial assistance.
“Just returned from the market, brought two bags,” says Galina. – I bought a young potato for 30 hryvnias (54 rubles). A small, as we say, milk onion costs 25 (45 rubles), a beetroot costs 60 hryvnias (108 rubles) per kilogram, tomatoes, like peppers – 65 (117 rubles). How much is a strawberry. Cherries can be bought cheaper – 50 hryvnia (90 rubles), cherries – 30 (54 rubles). Apricots are already sold for 70 hryvnia (126 rubles) per kilogram. But we do not take them yet – they are expensive. There are no vacationers. The beaches are mined. Therefore, the prices are still divine. Although it is already hot, the thermometer today is +25, recently it was +29. I want to plunge into the sea.
The fact that “there is no sea” is also lamented by pensioner Irakli.
– The beaches are closed. Every three meters there are signs “mined”, “no way through”, they say – to ensure the defense of the region. Although the same Teroboronists who patrol the embankments, drunk, climb into the sea. And the volunteers know where to heat the sand to fill the bags. But there were cases when people, having decided to swim, were blown up by mines. So in Gribovka on the beach, the 50-year-old head of the family from the Donetsk region died.
For those who have money, as Irakli says, there are beach clubs. There you can rent a sun lounger for 200 hryvnias (360 rubles) and swim mindlessly in the pool.
— And now we are sunbathing on concrete slabs. We take a bottle of water with us and pour ourselves so as not to bake. The estuaries are also not safe now. And right in the center of Odessa, anchor mines are thrown ashore by storms. Local authorities call them hostile. Although they were thrown into the sea by the Ukrainian military themselves. For mines, now sometimes black bags full of garbage that sway on the waves are mistaken. The administration assures that they want to open at least some sections of the beach. Why are they asking the Americans and the British for special equipment for demining water bodies, underwater drones.
The mayor of the city insists that due to the fact that the port and other enterprises are not working, the treasury will lose about 1 billion 800 million hryvnias. It is necessary to tighten the belts.
– Where else? – Odessans repeat.