Oleksiy, the last neighbor of Ruski Tyshky: “When we achieve victory, I want to honor my wife”

Russian troops took the life of Oleksiy’s wife on May 9, Victory Day, in a village in the Kharkov region. The house of this 67-year-old Ukrainian and that of his daughter have been devastated, the paintings in his woman are the greatest memory she has of herThis couple could not escape before because the invading troops only allowed them to go to RussiaA little whistle is heard in Ruski Tyshky. It is the rocking of metals that have been left hanging above some houses, most of them with enormous damage. When the wind stops, there is a deathly silence. This is another of the villages in the Kharkov region, where life has also been dismantled after the passage of the Russians. They settled here in the early days of the war and had it under their control for two and a half months. Upon their arrival, they immediately dug trenches in the forest here and also laid down mines, many of which are still there. That is what Oleksiy warns NIUS, the only neighbor who passes through this small town. This 69-year-old Ukrainian man is in the yard of what remains of his devastated house. Around him is a mountain of bricks and rubble. He acknowledges that it will take a long time for him to return to live in his home. A roof to sleep underNot only is the area still unsafe, there is a lot to clean up and repair. But Oleksiy does not want to wait for his government to do it, he has been traveling for weeks from Kharkov city, where he now lives with his daughter, here to at least make some repairs. Now, he, above all, is concerned that his house be protected from the adverse weather conditions that are expected in the coming months. Many of the windows are broken and the roof inside the house is ripped apart. In fact, while he is giving this interview, it is already raining hard. “I have already started the paperwork so that the money from the government arrives to repair the damage to our houses. But, we know that this will take at least a year. So in the meantime, I’m doing what I can”, he explains. Destroys in the town of Ruski Tyshky niusdiario.es The death of his wife Oleksiy’s is another heartbreaking story left by this conflict. It is difficult to digest all that he has had to go through since Putin decided to carry out this invasion. The Russians not only destroyed part of his house and also that of his daughter – located just a few meters from his – but also took the life of his wife. It happened when the Ukrainian army began to expel Kremlin troops from this area. Paradoxically, the moment in which this marriage began to see a bit of an end to the nightmare they had lived through for more than sixty days. However, the worst came. His wife was seriously injured by Russian artillery fire. She arrived at the hospital, but nothing could be done. Something that this interviewee does not want to go unnoticed is the exact day that misfortune happened: May 9, Victory Day. Date on which Putin organizes parades in Red Square to commemorate the end of one of the bloodiest stages in Europe: Nazism. Sixty years later, he does the same thing as Hitler: invade foreign countries and kill innocent people. Oleksiy, among the remains of his house “We wanted to get out of here to stay safe, but the Russians forbade us. The option they gave us was to go to Russia. So my wife and I, we stayed here the whole time. Until the misfortune occurred and they killed her”, he says. Inside his house there is something that the bombs could not destroy: the paintings of his wife. He says there are at least fifty left. His illusion is to make an exhibition with all of them when “victory comes”. Also some of his books survived the cruelty of Russian soldiers. And it is that Oleksiy likes to devour books, especially history ones, according to what he details. Curiously, on the outskirts of another house in this same town, another book lies between glass. It is one of the most important works of the Ukrainian poet, Taras Shevchenko. ‘Testament’ is the title of one of the poems that can be found within this volume. In it, the author talks about death and love for his country. Verses that define the current moment of this Ukrainian interviewee and many others. ‘Testament’, by the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenkoniusdiario.esThis retiree now has to face his present. Here the future is more uncertain every day. His pension is 50 euros and he has to rent an apartment in the city of Kharkiv. However, his daughter and his granddaughter accompany him and help him financially. It’s what he has left and it’s what he clings to.