Weary but determined, residents vow never to bow down to Russia
When Russian missiles struck the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv a couple of weeks ago, schoolchildren and their teachers installed in newly built underground classrooms did not hear a thing.
Down in the bowels of Kharkiv's cavernous, Soviet-era subway stations, the city administration has built a line of brightly decorated classrooms, where 6and 7-year-olds are attending primary school for the first time in their lives in this war-stricken city.
“The children were fine,” said Lyudmyla Demchenko, 47, one of the teachers. “You cannot hear the sirens down here.”
Ten years after the conflict with Russian-backed separatists broke out and two years into Moscow's full-scale invasion, Ukrainians are weary but ever determined to repel the invaders. The war has touched every family — with thousands of civilians dead, close to 200,000 soldiers killed and wounded, and nearly 10 million refugees and displaced in a country of nearly 45 million people. Yet, despite the death, destruction and deprivations, a majority of Ukrainians remain optimistic about the future, and even describe themselves as happy, according to independent polls.
Kharkiv is a good example. It lies only 25 miles from the border with Russia and has suffered a heavy share of Russian artillery, drone and missile attacks. Most families fled at the beginning of the war or lived for months underground in the subway, as Russian troops came close to seizing the city. But the Ukrainian defenses held, families returned and the city came back to life.
In December, when Russian missile attacks escalated again, most people stayed put. Kyryl Rohachov, 22, even opened a cocktail bar on one of Kharkiv's main avenues with a childhood friend who now manages the business.
Days before the opening in January, missile strikes shattered buildings and windows along the street. “It's not the best time,” Rohachov admitted in a video call from Switzerland, where he works in a restaurant and cares for his orphaned brother and his own family. “But I want to bring something new to my lovely Kharkiv.”
In a recent opinion poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, the overwhelming majority of respondents, nearly 90%, said they still believed in Ukraine's victory, as long as Western aid continued.
More than 60% of respondents considered themselves happy, even while the majority said they had lost income and suffered from physical and mental health problems. A similar number said they had lost at least one relative or friend, said Anton Hrushetsky, the director of the institute.
People seriously pared back their lives and expectations, he said, adding, “That is keeping these happiness levels higher.”
Nevertheless, there are signs of a small but growing pessimism, he said. In December, 19% of respondents said they were ready to make concessions to Russia to bring an end to the war, an increase from 10% in May.
The pain and loss felt by everyone is evident at the constant funerals around the country and in the expanding military graveyards. A crowd of 300 turned out on a recent day in the town of Kamianske to say farewell to a fallen soldier. Everyone, old and young, knelt on the frozen ground as his coffin passed on its way to the cemetery.
The suffering caused by Russia's invasion has hardened attitudes in Kharkiv. Part of the province lived under a brutal seven-month occupation in 2022, and the bombardment continues. This month, two families, three children among them, were burned alive in their homes when missiles struck a fuel depot, setting an adjoining line of houses ablaze.