When the city of Izyum is occupied by Russians in April, mostly Ukrainians remain who are on Moscow’s side. The Kiev flag is flying again at City Hall, but in front of City Hall the crowd is arguing about who is a traitor.
The Ukrainian flag flies again in front of the completely burned-out town hall of Izyum. The Russian troops have withdrawn from the eastern Ukrainian city near Kharkiv, but the months of occupation have left their mark – not only on buildings and streets, but also in the minds of the residents.
A dispute breaks out in front of the town hall about who cooperated with the occupying forces. Those who accepted help from the Russians are now being pilloried. “Would you have preferred it if I had died?” Switlana Fitscher defends herself. “Stop screaming,” replies one of the 55-year-olds. “Do you want to know if I’m pro-Russian? Is that the question?” Fitscher continues. “No, sorry, I’m for my country.” “She wants to be fed by the Russians,” one man accuses Fitscher. “She betrayed Ukraine for food,” screams one woman. Another woman intervenes and asks: “And what have you been eating all this time?”
Actually, the women and men, mostly older ones, came to City Hall to speak to Mayor Valeri Martschenko. They are demanding help from the Ukrainian authorities and want to know when public services will be up and running again. But the mayor doesn’t come. The mayor is “an idiot, a liar,” Fitscher complains. “He saved his skin and left people behind.” Martschenko left the city before the Russians took it in April. “We didn’t know about the evacuations. I couldn’t leave. And now I’m a traitor because I survived thanks to the Russian rations,” she says.
The talks also revolve around who is responsible for the massive destruction in the city that was caught between the fronts. The Russians or the Ukrainians? Here, too, opinions differ. Some claim locals are also to blame. “These quarrels are a problem of democracy. That wouldn’t happen with the Russians,” says a man who suddenly appears in the crowd and immediately disappears again.
The majority of Ukrainians in the east of the country speak Russian, and some of them are pro-Moscow. About 47,000 people lived in Izyum before the war. According to the city, fewer than half stayed, including many pro-Russian residents. Some of them, especially those who cooperated closely with the occupying forces, fled before the Ukrainian troops arrived, says a Ukrainian soldier who wishes to remain anonymous. The Ukrainian military has been patrolling Izyum since Sunday. Tanks drive through the center with a deafening noise.
The argument continues in front of City Hall. Taisija Litowka stays out of the discussion. “We were lost and now we are overjoyed,” says the 46-year-old nurse, pleased about the liberation of Isjum. Now she hopes that the telephone network will soon be working again so that she can finally talk to her children in western Ukraine.
