Ukraine

Volunteer explains what life under occupation was like in Izyum / The New Voice of Ukraine

The Russian military fled from Izyum and left a 90% destroyed city without gas, water and electricity (Photo:REUTERS/Gleb Garanich)

The Russian military fled from Izyum and left a 90% destroyed city without gas, water and electricity (Photo:REUTERS/Gleb Garanich)

The city of Izyum, which survived a six-month Russian occupation, has now become one of the symbols of the successful counter-offensive of the Ukrainian army in Kharkiv Oblast. On Sept. 10, the Ukrainian flag rose again over Izyum’s city council building.

During the occupation, more than half of the population of the 46,000-strong town managed to leave, while others were taken hostage by invading Russian forces. After the invaders fled, at least 445 graves with the bodies of military servicemen and civilians, including children, were found in a nearby forest belt. Currently, almost 350 bodies — all bearing sign of a violent death — have already been exhumed. These are victims of shelling, torture, and abuse. According to law enforcement officers, the death toll could be much higher.

Meanwhile, those residents who were lucky enough to survive are now learning to live anew in their free, but completely destroyed city, without water, gas, or power. Maxim Krakovsky, a Kyiv resident and a volunteer with the NGO “Enjoying Life”, was one of the first to arrive in liberated Izyum with food and other necessities.

Krakovsky spoke to NV about what he saw and heard in Izyum. The following is a transcript of his story, edited for readability and clarity.

The first thing you notice in liberated Izyum is a very big difference in the moods of the population. In Kyiv and Chernihiv oblasts that we visited in the first days, people after the liberation didn’t fully understand that the war had begun. Everything took them by surprise and they just found themselves in a whirlpool of events, so they were confused and scared. In Izyum, people lived half a year under occupation, had seen enough of everything, and seemed to have become accustomed to the war.

The landscape of the city, on the contrary, is very similar to the Kyiv area and the Chernihiv area after the liberation: gas stations and shops were destroyed, buildings were destroyed, houses without roofs and windows, and sometimes you find completely unaffected neighborhoods. Between all this, people go about their usual business, cut the grass and trim the trees.

In early March, water, electricity, and communications disappeared in Izyum. And the only place where you could catch a Ukrainian mobile signal was Mount Kremenets, the highest point in Kharkiv…

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