Efrat Forsher
Israel Hayom, Feb. 17, 2023
“Despair is spreading in Mykolaiv, and the war’s end is nowhere on the horizon, but the support of the struggle against Russia has not stopped. “We believe in the struggle and its righteousness,” said one of the residents.”
Marking one year of Russia’s war with Ukraine, we crossed the border from Moldova into Ukraine. We visited Odesa, the once-booming tourist city on the Black Sea’s coast that is now a dark and gloomy ghost city. We also visited the overcrowded and desperate city of Mykolaiv. We met with aid organizations, Jews who stayed behind, Holocaust survivors who went back in time 80 years, women whose husbands are fighting on the front lines, and children attending school via Zoom.
All spoke of challenging conditions, frequent power outages, difficulty heating water in the winter, empty store shelves, and a lack of water and medicine. However, one bright light shone amidst all this darkness: an International Fellowship of Christians and Jews plane flying 90 new immigrants to Israel. The excitement and the happiness over landing in Israel allowed them to forget for a moment what they had left behind.
Odesa is now devoid of tourists. Many shops are closed, and instead of tourists filling the city’s famous sites, soldiers occupy them. The traffic lights are out in most areas of the city, the streetlights are out, drivers cross intersections unchecked, and the few people walking around outside endanger themselves whenever they step on a crosswalk. A few restaurants are open and full, serving as a bubble of pure escapism. During the day, you can still see the remnants of the city’s beauty that made it popular, but at night, when it is already dark at 4 pm, it is extremely difficult to imagine that this city once had vibrant nightlife. The city enters curfew at 11 pm.
The shattered dreams
Anna Drinko does not have the privilege of drowning herself in escapism in her small, dark apartment where she lives with her two children, Dasha and Ewan. They had a 24-hour-long power outage just a day ago. She is now taking advantage of having electricity for who knows how long to do the laundry and charge cell phones. … [To read the full article, click here]