in Ukraine, residents of the Kharkiv region fear the arrival of Russian troops

Moscow continues to make progress in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, where the municipality of Tsirkuny is located. The inhabitants live in fear and prepare for the arrival of the Russians.

The Russian army continues its large-scale assault. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he expected a broader Russian offensive in the north and east aimed at taking Kharkiv, the country’s second city. On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin justified this new offensive by claiming to respond to Ukrainian strikes in recent months on Russian territory and wanting to create a buffer zone.

Northeast of Kharkiv, Tsirkuny is a locality made up of nine villages, some of which are half destroyed. The 2 Around 000 inhabitants have already experienced occupation in the first months of the war, in 2022. With his wife, Sacha came to look for some food aid in what remains of the old village hospital. He fills the trunk of his car, his eyes anxious, his voice strangled by the anxiety of seeing the Russians arrive. They are only about twenty kilometers away. “The situation is uncertainnoted Sasha. Of course it’s stressful. We definitely don’t want that to happen.” According to him, the situation can get worse very quickly. He already lost part of his house two years ago : “Of course there was destruction, a shell hit a corner of our house. My neighbor died. There was shrapnel everywhere, it killed him.”

Standing a little aside, Valentina, 70, and her daughter are preparing to leave the village soon. There is no question of reliving the hell of the occupation, explains Natalia, 45, wrapped in a pink hoodie : “It’s very, very difficult. We can’t sleep. We’re trembling. It’s scary to think that there could be an occupation again. We’ve been occupied before, it’s scary.” Her mother, Valentina, just joined her a few days ago. She left Loukiantsi, at 4 km from the border. A village targeted by the Russians, because it opens the way for Lypsti, in the direction of Kharkiv. “They’re already thereexplains Valentina. They are in our village. And we’re afraid they’ll come here now. Given the pace of the offensive, there is little doubt.

“Why are they doing this to us? Why are they bombing us? I have no more strength. I have lost half of my hair.”

Valentina, Ukrainian

at franceinfo

The face framed by an orange, green and blue scarf, Nadiejda, 75 years old, came to look for flour, sugar, canned goods to be able to hold on just in case and to hole up in her cellar. “My God, make sure they don’t come backhopes Nadiejda. We are retirees, the first time they didn’t do anything to us. But the younger ones, of course they targeted them. When young men passed by, they shot them in the legs. What do you want, they’re fascists.”

On Friday, the governor of the Kharkiv region indicated that Ukrainian forces failed to stop the adversary. Nothing to disturb the mayor of Tsirkuny. In his office, Mikola Sikalenko makes phone calls. If he is worried, with large bags under his eyes, the local elected official does not let it show. “If I started to panic, it would not be good for our villagesexplains the Ukrainian mayor. Taking into account the information that comes to me from the front line and what the military tells me directly, I am convinced that the Russians will not get there.”

And when we ask him what we should wish for the residents here, he says it in a few words: “Resist! And victory!” A confidence that Vladimir doesn’t really share, who struggles to pull a cart down a dirt road, loaded with two packages full of food. He lived through the occupation for 75 days. “If they come back, they will definitely kill everyone and put people in the basementsexplains Vladimir in Surjik, a mixture of Ukrainian and Russian. You have heard what is happening in Vovchansk ? It’s terrible.” Vladimir walks away. “The coming dayshe said, don’t promise anything good.”