(Kyiv) A few days after President Vladimir Putin’s speech announcing the partial mobilization of the Russian population – and the holding of annexation referendums in four Ukrainian regions – the inhabitants of Kyiv welcome the news with phlegm.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Near the Saint-Michel-au-Dôme-d’Or monastery, in the city center, families take photos and circulate between the wreckage of Russian missiles and tanks destroyed by Ukrainian artillery. They have been on display, like trophies, by the Ukrainian army since June.
Without these charred remnants of weaponry, a few army checkpoints and the bomb-warning sirens that locals no longer pay attention to, there’s not much to separate Kyiv from another major European city on this Friday. rainy afternoon.
PHOTO HUGO LAUTISSIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Kyiv is back to normal.
Since the withdrawal of the Russian army last April, the capital breathes. The cafes and restaurants are full, the streets come alive and hope seems to be allowed again. ” It gives a weird feeling to see it here », reacts Max, a 27-year-old computer developer from Odessa, touching the harmless barrel of a tank with his fingertips. “ Partial mobilization announcements do not alarm me more than that. They are going to send people who do not know how to fight, who are not trained, whereas our soldiers have been on the front lines for more than six months. »
His friend Ivan, 23, a student in Kyiv, agrees: “This is proof that Putin is panicking. He has no more soldiers available, he will send us Russian prisoners instead. »
“Perhaps this is the right time to step up the counter-offensive? », asks Max.
“He proves that he is losing”
A few days earlier, the Russian president announced the mobilization of at least 300,000 reservists and the holding of annexation referendums in four regions occupied entirely or in part by Moscow: Donetsk and Luhansk, in the east of the country, Kherson and Zaporizhia, in the south. An election described as a sham by Ukraine and its allies, and ” voting parody » by NATO.
Since the beginning of September, the Ukrainian counter-offensive has enabled the army to reconquer several thousand kilometers of territory, in the east and south of the country, in particular the town of Izioum, occupied since 1er april.
Some see Vladimir Putin’s announcements as a way to camouflage his recent military debacles.
Volodymyr Vyshkvarok, 30, is one of them. ” None of this is scary to me. My friends share the same opinion, including among those who fight at the front. One of them said to me: “Let him send these men to us, we will send them to hell.” It’s sad, because the war will continue and there will be even more deaths on both sides. But I have the impression that with each announcement, [Poutine] proves that he is losing this war”, wants to believe this young man who works remotely for a British IT company.
From the end of February, he signed up as a volunteer to support the national effort. He collects donations and equipment for Ukrainian soldiers on the front. Originally from the city of Luhansk, an area subject to the referendum this weekend and where his family still lives, he says he has no illusions. “My family has been living under occupation since 2014, so nothing will change for them. I hope people in other regions clearly realize that this whole charade is false, criminal and unacceptable. These votes do not count. Everyone understands that this is done under threat and illegally. No normal country will recognize the vote. »
Oleksiy Ovchynnykov is from Sloviansk, in the Donbass. With a heavy heart, he temporarily left his hometown for the suburbs of the capital, at the beginning of June, when the bombings got closer. From the first days of the war, he had sent his 16-year-old son to Slovakia, while his wife found refuge in Lithuania.
PHOTO HUGO LAUTISSIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Destroyed Russian tanks have been on display, like trophies, by the Ukrainian army in Kyiv since June.
Since this summer, they are reunited again. This dance teacher, who ran several major studios in the Donbass until February 24, is about to open two new studios in Irpin and Kyiv. Vladimir Putin’s announcements have not weakened his determination. ” It’s probably not the best time to launch a studio, but we have no choice. Should we sit and do nothing? », pretends to wonder the quarantine.
Ditto for the nuclear threat, which the Russian president has once again agitated in his latest statements. ” Everything is possible with him. Eight years ago, when it all started, we did not think that Russia would be able to bomb Kyiv, nor that there would still be martyr cities in Europe. Then there was Boutcha and Mariupol. »
Through the window of the café where he has made an appointment, the dancer’s attention is drawn to the pedestrian street where a group of ten teenagers undertake a choreography by filming themselves with a telephone: ” Basically, people just want to live normally, nothing more »slips Oleksiy with a smile.