Another ceasefire?

Today, Sunday, I had an unexpected day off. (It's usually hard to fill the rota on weekends.) Whilst sitting on my verandah with a cup of tea, instead of a siren being the first sound I heard, as normal, it was the daily 9 o'clock clanging sound that precedes a nationwide moment of silence, to honour civilians and military personnel killed in the ongoing war with Russia. 


But the first siren sounded at 09:48. Yesterday there were still lots of air raid alerts but short ones, almost nervy, as if it was expected that the 3-day ceasefire, 9 - 11 May, wouldn't last. Unsurprisingly, it didn't. During the evening the Russian army launched a drone strike on a nine-story building in the Industrial District of Kharkiv. Fortunately, no-one was seriously injured. Sadly, on the same day, one of the people injured in a missile strike on Merefa, Kharkiv Oblast (Region) on 4 May, died in hospital, bringing the death toll to nine. 35 other people were injured and the impact of the missile damaged at least 10 houses, four shops, a service station, an administrative building, two cars and a restaurant.

I looked up Merefa, which is just southwest of Kharkiv city. It's called a city, as all places with a sizeable population are here. But it looks like a small town, with a pre-war population of about 21,000. At the time of the missile attack on Merefa, in the morning, an emergency medical team was transporting a woman with a suspected stroke. The brigade stopped to provide assistance to the wounded. One of the paramedics reported, "The worst thing was when these fragments began to scatter all over the place, in different directions..." This is the result of the impact.

The paramedic also said: "This hit took people by surprise. Everyone went about their business, no one expected disaster." 

https://suspilne.media/kharkiv/1305057-nihto-ne-cekav-liha-paramedik-svidkoi-rozpoviv-pro-persi-hvilini-pisla-vlucanna-raketi-u-merefi/

I think the reality of this kind of war, in which attacks away from the actual front line (zero line) are relatively infrequent and random, is that we tend to go about our daily lives in a normal way. Of course, there are constant sirens and explosions are usually heard daily, sometimes distant, sometimes much closer. But now that the weather has changed and we are experiencing the first real taste of summer, it can be hard to imagine anything terrible happening. Flowers are blooming in parks and in communal gardens, where elderly women (usually) are often bent over for hours, creating displays such as this one near my home.

And of course the parks are beautiful...



It has been a strange year for weather, so far. On the last Friday of April we stood in a snow flurry whilst waiting for the Kitchen to open in the morning.

The following Monday there was a gale that brought down trees and damaged properties, including the garden wall of my apartment block.

Hell's Kitchen had a day of trepidation when a team from our main donor, Nova Ukraine (a US-based international charity), came to visit, to consider whether or not to continue their funding. We're always a clean, well-organised kitchen but we tried to be even cleaner and more well organised! The head of the organisation interviewed all the volunteer coordinators - we realised afterwards that she is a former American Ambassador. The team seemed very interested and impressed with the workings of the kitchen. They finished by sitting down at our small dining table to sample the bread rolls we made. It was way past our lunch time but we didn't feel that we could intrude! The good news is that Nova Ukraine decided to continue supporting Hell's Kitchen, the only requirement being some more administrative procedures for Liuda and Yegor.

We don't have our usual quota of foreign volunteers at present, due to a couple of cancellations and long-term volunteers going away. But we have a hard-working and fun group who, as well as giving full effort to working in the Kitchen, also find time for diverse activities, including jigsaw puzzle parties, go-carting and cooking.

Our local Ukrainian Red Cross team received some of the cookies made by Franklin and volunteers.

One of our current volunteers is a British chef who works in Italy. He has established a welcome routine of cooking a Friday afternoon/evening meal for us. Last Friday we had cottage pie, including vegetarian! We have also been lucky to attend a cooking class in Ukrainian cuisine, given by Olena, one of our volunteer bakers. This was our menu:

Light Ukrainian wine for aperitif.

Forshmak (chopped herring) on rye bread toast.


Black vareniki (dumplings) with brynza (sheep milk cheese).


Banosh (cornmeal porridge) with shkvarki (pork scratchings/crackling) - not my favourite!

White vareniki with sour cherries - my favourite!


It was enjoyable and delicious, and we even received certificates at the end!

One volunteer has introduced us to a new volunteering opportunity in Kharkiv: a shelter for horses and dogs, usually belonging to soldiers. The dogs are mostly big, not the little, fluffy lap dogs that we usually see in Kharkiv, often being carried! They are kept in clean, spacious pens but they badly need a good walk every day, which requires volunteers. Donations of supplies and animal food will also be greatly appreciated.


I am holding small, informal English conversation groups and a beginners group for Ukrainian volunteers. The last meeting was in the park as the weather was so good.

One of our younger Ukrainian volunteers, Romchik, was introduced to the Beatles and found time for some art work on a flour sack!

The apparent mistake is because 'p' is an 'r' sound in Ukrainian!

Thank you for reading this post and for your comments.

Donations

To make a donation to the regular causes I support, please open PayPal and, when asked for email, enter sunflower_house@hotmail.co.uk

You can specify where you would like your donation to go, including whether or not you wish to support a civilian only cause; otherwise I will send the money where I think the need is greatest:

The Adults for Children foundation in Kharkiv supports children and families affected by war, through humanitarian aid, including food and medicine. They focus on psychological rehabilitation, educational initiative and creating safe spaces for children's development. https://instagram.com/adults_for_children?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Hell's Kitchen cooks daily, nutritious meals and bakes bread, for hospitals, wounded soldiers and others in need. https://hellskitchenukraine.org/

Franklin, Hell's Kitchen foreign volunteer coordinator, supports soldiers and medics on the frontline. PayPal: bearstateteacher1@yahoo.com

Inna runs a small group of volunteers who make camouflage nets, ghillie suits and stretchers. Paypal: moreman@3g.ua

If you would like to donate to a charity that supports animals - Animal Rescue Kharkiv. https://www.animalrescuekharkiv.org/

🐾 Kharkiv Paw Crew runs a shelter for horses and dogs. They have a Facebook and an Instagram page, which I'll post next time. 

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