Zhang Panze is a backpacker. In 5 years, he has traveled to more than 50 countries around the world.
In the past two months, he has been in Ukraine, from Odessa to Kiev and then to Kharkov . "I want to see what Ukraine has become after the war."
He traveled to Ukraine last year, during the European Cup , and fans wearing national flags and watching football could be seen everywhere in Kiev. People drank beer and cheered loudly in the square. "This time I visited my old place again, and there was only darkness in the square."
Zhang Panze also went to Big Babka with the locals. This is a small village on the border between Russia and Ukraine. For more than half a year, the two sides have been exchanging fire here.
He found sleeping bags and food packages left by Russian soldiers in the forest outside the village. They transported the scattered shell casings back home and prepared them to be made into keychains and bottle openers for sale in the market.
The remains of the missile picked up by Zhang Panze (social account "Rourou's Global Travel") in a Ukrainian border village. Picture/provided by interviewee
The following is Zhang Panze’s self-report:
[1] The air raid siren sounded, but people continued to walk without taking shelter.
In July last year, I went to Ukraine once. It was the European Cup, and fans wearing Ukrainian flags could be seen everywhere in the capital, Kiev. They drank beer and cheered loudly in the square, looking very happy.
After more than a year, I came to Ukraine again. This time I wanted to see what Ukraine has become after the war. All flights to Ukraine were grounded. I arrived in Ukraine by land from Moldova .
On November 1, I arrived in Odessa, a city in southern Ukraine. Many people here have fled to other countries, and the streets are obviously much more depressed than the last time I came here. After 8 pm, there is no one on the pedestrian street in the city center.
However, Odessa is still beautiful during the day. Except for the southern coastal area that is blocked, other areas are basically normal, and it is difficult to see traces of war. There are people shopping on the street, and the flea market on the roadside is filled with all kinds of items, ranging from cameras and watches to Soviet medals.
The war is still going on. Air raid sirens sound from time to time in Odessa, and people don't hide. They walk when they should and go shopping when they should. When the air raid siren sounded, the singing guy on the roadside continued to sing.
The Russian army sometimes launches missiles to bomb power plants in Ukraine, causing power outages here from time to time. Sometimes calls come back within a few hours, and sometimes it takes several days. After the power outage at night, the traffic lights on the road were no longer on. Except for the car lights, everything was dark. Occasionally, pedestrians walked with flashlights.
I stayed in Odessa for a month, and then went to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. There were almost no people on the minibus going to Kiev, but the international buses going to Bulgaria and Turkey next to it were full of people.
Russian tanks on display in downtown Kiev. Picture/provided by interviewee
When I arrived in Kiev, it was the World Cup. I was here during the European Cup a year ago. At that time, there were at least tens of thousands of fans gathered in the square in the city center, which was very lively. This time, when I returned to my old place, there was only darkness in the square.
There is a power outage in Kiev almost every night. There may be no way to store food after the power outage. The refrigerated area of the supermarket is always empty. Due to constant power outages, generator sales in Ukraine are booming. When there is a power outage, many restaurants and supermarkets will turn on generators to generate electricity. However, the electricity can only give priority to ensuring lights. Many store cashiers have to use calculators to calculate manually, and bills are written on paper.
I stayed in Kiev for half a month and walked around every day. I felt that the security in Kiev was even better than before. There used to be a lot of liars and thieves in Kiev. I met several of them last time I came here, but I didn’t meet any this time. Local people told me that after the war broke out, many thieves fled to Europe.
After the war, Ukraine implemented a curfew. No one was allowed to sell alcohol after 8 o'clock, and no one was allowed to go out after 11 o'clock. At night, there were very few people on the road.The nightlife of Ukrainians used to be very rich, but now it is obviously much deserted. Even the splendid church on Andrei Street in the center of Kiev is now pitch black, and it is difficult to find an open restaurant at night.
Kiev is also often hit by air raids. When the air raid siren sounds, many people will run to the subway, which is full of people. Some people will bring bench cushions to play cards and mobile phones inside. I feel like they are used to it.
Generally speaking, air defense alerts do not last long. Sometimes the bombing is done with one shot, and sometimes it may last for several hours. Local people can receive air raid warning reminders on their mobile phones. Once the alert state is lifted, various places will return to normal.
[2] The building was blasted with a big hole by missiles, and people used wooden boards to block it and continue to live.
Kharkiv is the second largest city in Ukraine and one of the largest cities closest to the Russian mainland. It is only more than 30 kilometers away from the border.
I arrived in Kharkov on December 15th after leaving Kiev. Since the outbreak of the war, Kharkov has been under continuous attack. The Russian army once invaded the northern part of Kharkov city, and many civilians have fled here.
As soon as I arrived in Kharkiv, I could clearly feel the desolation of the city. It was dark everywhere, and the starry sky could even be seen in the city center.
You can often see buildings destroyed by war in the city. A hole was blown on the top of a church, and most of a teaching building at Kharkiv State University was blown up. Today, the campus is empty. When I was walking around the park, I even discovered that one of the public restrooms had suffered damage and was completely blown up.
What impressed me most was a residential building. The missile passed through the middle, but it did not explode, leaving only a huge hole. In order to prevent the wind and snow from pouring in, local residents used wooden boards to fill the hole in the concrete exterior wall. Except for the bombed family, everyone else still lives in this building.
In an area north of Kharkov, many houses were destroyed seriously. At that time, this area was a war zone, and many entire buildings were destroyed by missiles. Now it has become a "dead city" with no one living there.
Destroyed buildings in Kharkov. Picture/provided by interviewee
There is also a market in Kharkov called Barabashovo. It was once one of the largest markets in Eastern Europe. It can accommodate more than 20,000 shops and 90,000 people work here. After the war started, it was bombed by the Russian army, causing fires and more than half of it was destroyed. Traces of being burned and exploded can be seen everywhere, and the ground is covered with shattered glass.
Now the market is slowly recovering. When I went there, some shops had already set up stalls, and I could see people setting up Christmas trees for sale on the roadside. Even if there are no shops, they can still operate in the open air.
The time I went there was approaching St. Nicholas Day. In Orthodox Christian countries, this day is a traditional holiday for giving gifts to children. Some toy stores in the market were also open. There were a wide variety of toys. I even saw many Chinese-made toys inside because they had Chinese characters written on them.
A shopping mall called Nikolsky has also opened its doors. This shopping mall was bombed into ruins at the beginning of the war, but has now been restored. Colored lights are hung all over the mall, and a Christmas tree is erected high. Many parents bring their children to go shopping here, which is very festive. However, on the outside of the mall, defensive sandbags placed during the war are still piled there.
Kharkov is still bombed frequently and air raid sirens sound every day. One time I was walking in the park and heard a huge explosion two or three kilometers away from me.
I met a volunteer organization in Kharkiv. They are all locals. They usually help transport some donated materials from outside, or distribute food to some left-behind elderly people and disabled people. After the war broke out, many people in the city fled. Only some elderly people or people with family difficulties stayed here. These volunteers regularly distributed food to these people.
I saw it on their website and left a message saying that I am a Chinese and I am here to visit. Do you need volunteers? They agreed.
has a small number of people and is a non-governmental organization. The organizer is called Oleg . Originally he did some business by himself, but after the war, the business stopped, so he often organized people to deliver supplies. He had an empty house, so he let me stay at his house. But he didn't speak English, so I could only communicate with him through a girl named Anna. There are basically no jobs for them now, as all walks of life came to a standstill during the war.
I went with them to deliver supplies. Most of those elderly people had difficulties in life. There was an old lady who kept wiping her tears when she saw us. Anna said that this old lady originally lived in the countryside, but her village was destroyed and she ran to the city to seek refuge. She was the only one in her family. When she arrived in Kharkov, she had no relatives or friends, so she lived here alone.
[3] The broken shell casings in the urban area were recovered, and they could only go to the border villages to pick up the remains of a missile
Zhang Panze picked up. Picture/provided by interviewee
When I was in Kharkov, Anna asked me one day that they were going to pick up missile debris at the border and asked me if I would go. They said they wanted to pick up some missile casings and process them into handicrafts to sell. The profit from the sales would be enough to buy supplies and continue doing charity.
However, the broken shell casings in the urban areas have been recycled, and they can only be picked up in the villages on the border.
Anna’s hometown is a village called Big Babka, not far from the border. She stayed in Kharkov after going to school in the city, and her brother stayed in the village to work as a farmer.
We went to that village on December 17, more than an hour’s drive from Kharkov. Along the way, you can see that a lot of land has been abandoned, but some of it is still planted with wheat.
When we arrived near the village, we could see traces of tracks running over us everywhere. Anna pointed to a river and said that a few months ago, when the two armies were fighting, this village had been a battlefield. On the other side of the river was the Russian-occupied area. At that time, the Russian army had been attacking this side and fired many missiles at this side.
Anna said that there are many missile casings around the village, but most of them have been picked up. Now only some are left in the forest, but the forest is more dangerous. At that time, the Russian army launched some cluster bombs towards the village, and some of them had not yet detonated.
Her brother asked us to walk on the main road while he went to the small path in the woods to look for us, because he was more familiar with the situation in the woods. After he found it, he asked us to follow him and carry the missile casings.
In the forest, we also saw some sleeping bags and food packages discarded by Russian soldiers, with the words "Russian military rations, prohibited from sale" written on them. Anna's brother also found a gas mask, but it was broken.
We searched for more than two hours and found a long aluminum alloy pipe, about 2 meters long and very light. They told me it was the propulsion device of a Hailstone rocket launcher, and there were some numbers written on it, but I didn't understand what they meant.
We also found a missile magazine and some other debris. Anna said that this missile magazine is the shell of a cluster bomb, about one or two meters long. I put it on my shoulder and tried it. It weighed at least 30 kilograms. We also saw a small bomb that did not detonate, which was supposed to be the subbomb of a cluster bomb.
Zhang Panze found a bomb that did not explode. Picture/provided by interviewee
It got dark very early in the area. We went there at noon. After picking up food for a while, it got dark, and we left the forest. Anna’s brother also took us to the cornfield to see the remains of a particularly large missile that was embedded deep in the ground and could not be pulled out.
We moved the remains to her brother's warehouse. Anna's brother used to work as a construction worker in the city and had some cutting tools. He would cut these missile shells into small pieces and then make them into crafts such as bottle openers and keychains.
Anna showed me some of the finished products - a long metal bar with the national emblem of Ukraine engraved on it and the date engraved on the bottom. They were all hand-engraved and looked rough. She said they were just starting out and had only sold a few, and were still thinking about how to improve in the future.
Anna also told me a lot about things in the village. During the war, the village had to count the number of people every day to see who was killed or injured, and other people had to help with resettlement.
However, most of the people in the village ran away during the war, leaving only a few men staying here. Her brother also sent his family abroad, but he could not bear to part with the house and land here, so he returned to the village.
Jiupai News Reporter Chen Wei Intern Reporter Xiang Jinli
[Source: Jiupai News]
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