Mutual Aid Alert for East Ukraine

Russian strikes on a number of cities on December 29th and the Ukrainian attack the next day on Belgorod, which cost the lives of dozens of civilians on each side, stopped the growing trend in the fall towards the gradual fading and curtailment of hostilities. Since then, Kharkiv has been under attack from Russian missiles and drones almost daily. The especially bloody moments turned out to be the evening of December 30th, when 21 civilians were injured in the bombed Kharkiv Palace business hotel (in the title photo), and the morning of January 2nd, when the arrival of a ballistic missile into the courtyard of residential high-rise buildings on Bakulin Street in the same area near the central square killed three and wounded more than 60 inhabitants. There is a report from state TV about civilian casualties in our region during the first week of the year.

Despite the intensification of hostilities, they remain in a deadlock. In these conditions of the constant threat from the air, as well as the sharply intensified street raids of enlistment agents on those liable for military service, we must rethink the usual format of our work in providing humanitarian assistance to the population. There was an idea to refocus on feeding municipal workers and volunteers working to clear up the ruins after the Russian attacks. However, there are always a lot of cops at the scene of such events, so we don’t risk appearing in such company. So we continue to discuss how we can do things better offline.

The main difference from the last cold season is that if that winter the main target of Russian army was the energy system, now they are focused on military production, warehouses and personnel locations (although in fact these are often ordinary civilian objects). Sometimes seems that the Ukrainian authorities themselves are waiting and hoping for the Russians to bomb out our energy sector, so that the attention will shift from their worthlessness and so that money will again flow like a river into freezing country. So far this is not happening. Blackouts sometimes happen due to accidents, but not so completely.

Either way, we are pleased to inform you of the remarkable achievements in the journalistic field achieved thanks to your kind support. At the end of the year, city authorities returned tram route 12 to the downtown of Kharkov, the rails for which were demolished and paved over a year ago. The tram has already entered the line, and in the fourth photo you can see its passage against the backdrop of the smashed Kharkiv Palace.

At the same time, thanks to our coverage, the administration of the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute began paying scholarships to students who had not received money since August. Moreover, if the number of scholarship recipients was reduced to 15% in the fall, now it has been returned to 35% - almost to the previous level! In addition, our attention helped students of the Kharkiv National University of Arts, who were required to pay for housing in which they had not lived since the beginning of big war two years ago. At least one girl sent us a screenshot on January 3rd that she managed to achieve her goal. This happened less than a month after our publication!

In short, no matter what terrible things happen around, we managed to give a number of people excellent gifts for the New Year, and this became possible only thanks to you. We also remind you that we continue to work on the internationalist English rubric, where you can find many different reviews, analyzes and translations, in particular - about autumn disruption to cut down the last remaining pine forest in the city by timely resonance. Thank you for everything and let's stay together in 2024.

Best wishes to you in the New Year! Will live!

Links:

• French press about us
• Russian opposition press about us
• Cooperation between the German press and one of us