Carnage in Kharkiv

 First published: May 27, 2024

This looks like such a peaceful scene - a beautiful city bathed in evening sunlight. But it's also a very sad scene because the flag is at half mast - it has been so for much of the past week, as the death toll in Kharkiv city and region mounts.

There has been the daily bombardment of the border regions, which continues, leading to mass evacuations...

There have also been, in the past week, a series of war crimes, perpetrated by Putin. On May 19 the Russian military hit a recreational centre - on the shore of a lake just north of Kharkiv - with two missiles; the second was 15 - 20 minutes after the first. A paramedic and a policeman were among the 27 wounded. Six people were killed, including a 7-months pregnant woman.

On 23 May a Russian missile hit the Vivat publishing house (the largest in Europe) in Kharkiv. Seven printing house workers died and 21 more people were injured.

On Saturday, 25 May, 2 glide bombs hit a huge, popular (especially on weekends) hardware store, the "Epicenter," in Kharkiv. 120 people were in the store: so far, 16 have died and 45 have been wounded. 

I'm busy in the bakery all day so don't seen much of the news coverage, but I'm told that there were videos of the scene in the store just as the bombs hit...a couple holding hands, cashiers and other workers, blown up, many beyond all recognition. I read about a mother and young daughter who were killed, the father unconscious in hospital. I saw a video of the aftermath of the  explosions - the chaos, shock and panic, some people lying dead in the car park, a woman running around in shock, crying.

The Epicenter is a chain store across Ukraine, which many volunteers have visited and been helped by the friendly staff. One of the Hell's Kitchen volunteers has been in Kharkiv for some time and used the Epicenter a lot. He said that he had friends there, although he didn't know their names.  Now he doesn't know if they're dead or alive.

It goes without saying that the victims of this latest Russian atrocity were civilians. President Zelensky described the Epicenter bombing as an act of madness, but I see it as calculated terrorism. May there be a reckoning one day.

In other news, I managed to visit the underground school in Kharkiv, thanks to one of the Hell's Kitchen volunteers, whose son attends it. There's only one more week of the school term but I may be able to help out in September.

I've also been trying to link with other voluntary organisations in the city to see if I can help in any way. Through a volunteer friend in Hell's Kitchen, I've met a young woman who runs a small, local charity, which translates as "Adults for Children." She and a few other volunteers work every day, from early morning to night, taking humanitarian aid (in a battered old car!) to families on the frontline. She's exhausted but fearless, and someone I want to support. I feel she will be as close as I can get to delivering aid in person.

The volunteers have a long day in Hell's Kitchen, too. The kitchen staff start at 7:30; the bakery starts later, between 9 and 10am, but we often don't finish until 7pm.

Amazingly, some of the volunteers are children and they work as hard as everyone else...although they manage to have fun in-between.

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