Courage and hope. In the oppressive atmosphere of Mykolaiv, a deserted city with closed shops, a few kilometers from the front line, a very small shop remained open. Angela sells tulips and shimmering roses there, because, war or not, “the flowers keep on blooming.”
The snow is falling on the main deserted streets of Mykolaiv, the cold is freezing, cars and passers-by are rare. Sometimes you hear a few shellings. But Angela Kalisnik’s “Floral Ambiance”, located right next to a closed shop surmounted by a sign “L’Amour” -in French-, warms the eyes and the hearts, according to The Epoch Times, citing the AFP.
“We didn’t know the war would come, the flowers continue to bloom in our region and we don’t want to throw them away,” smiles Angela Kalisnik, the lovely 25-year-old owner.
On all the walls are hung multicolored bouquets, and, against all odds, there are customers. Many soldiers came to buy flowers for their girlfriends on March 8, for the international day of women’s rights, very celebrated in the countries of the former USSR.
+ “War is war, but people go on living” +
A man comes out of the store with a huge bouquet for his mother’s birthday. And a few days ago, a passerby came to buy flowers for a lady who had found her lost purse in the street.
Angela Kalisnik closed up shop a week after the Russian invasion began on February 24, then decided to reopen.
“War is war, but people go on living, celebrating birthdays. We have to boost people’s morale and make the economy work”, explains the young woman, before offering journalists a bouquet of yellow tulips surrounded by a blue ribbon. In the colors of Ukraine.
About ten meters from “Floral Ambiance”, around thirty people are queuing, in freezing cold, in front of an ATM. For some, they have been waiting for two hours. “I don’t understand, two days ago everything was normal, but now it’s limited, you can’t withdraw more than 400 hryvnia (about 12 euros) at a time,” Vitaly gets angry. So people draw and withdraw money, several times.
+ “The battle is being won” +
Mykolaiv, a city located a hundred kilometers east of Odessa, on the Black Sea, has been the scene of heavy fighting and bombing for several days. But the Ukrainians repelled the Russian assaults, according to the governor of the region Vitaly Kim, who assures that “the battle is being won”.
At a press conference in front of the city council on Friday, Mr. Kim, an attractive young governor who has become a star in his country because of his lively and humorous messages posted on Facebook, assures that the Russians , who continue to bombard the suburbs of the city, have been pushed back 15 to 20 km.
“They thought we would welcome them with flowers, they didn’t expect our resistance,” says Mr. Kim, who admits with a smile that he “knew nothing about war 15 days ago”.
+ Many left the city in the direction of Odessa +
Thousands and thousands of civilians have fled Mykolaiv in recent days, towards Odessa, still spared. Nobody is able to give the exact number, but AFP had observed on Tuesday huge queues of cars leaving the city, which is normally home to nearly 500,000 inhabitants.
Today, it seems emptied, only a few rare shops are still open, and the large supermarket is starting to suffer from stock shortages, especially in the pasta, rice and canned food sections.
Those who stayed in Mykolaiv want to believe in a quick end to the war, like Valentin Nitchiprienko, a military chaplain. “The war is approaching but God will help us, it will end quickly”, assures the smiling fifty-something, who “prays” when it bombs.
“We will win this war, God help us”
Small frail figure wrapped up, Valentina, an old lady returns home with Maria, her daughter-in-law. The two women have lived alone together since the start of the war, the men have gone to the front. They got information on the internet or by listening to Vitaly Kim’s messages to find out what to do in the event of a bombardment, take refuge in the bathtub or stick behind a load-bearing wall.
“We will win this war, God help us,” Valentina says in her small voice.
Source : The Epoch Times / AFP
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