In an abandoned sports complex, a very long line of refugees quietly awaits a modest bag of food that was donated by local entrepreneurs, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), powerful countries and multilateral forums. The Ukrainian Security Forces allow international press access to the refugee center, but it requires only one condition under threat of immediate arrest: it is forbidden to take external photos of the building in order to preserve its location and social importance.
When the war broke out in February, a social media user posted a video showing certain military vehicles parked in front of a shopping mall located north of Kiev. On 20 March, a wave of missiles destroyed the mall and killed 8 Ukrainian civilians.
The sports complex in Zaporizhzhya is attended by about 2,000 refugees a day. They make a row inside the premises and receive a handful of food that can last a week with a lot of effort. Food has heterogeneous origins - from the United States to a local businessman - and it is never enough for everyone.
“International organizations promise us boxes every day. But the bureaucracy causes delays, and then the food does not arrive,” said a Ukrainian volunteer who has been sleeping little for weeks.
Famine plays with survival. At 11.30, a loud alarm began to sound in Zaporizhzhya. Alarm is synonymous with danger and -eventually- of instant death. But no one in line flinched. They had been waiting for their bag of food for hours, and they had no intention of losing their turn.
Joseph Biden boldly moved and authorized Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin III to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev. The President of Ukraine together with the secretaries of State and Defense designed a common roadmap involving armament sent by the White House and the immediate reopening of the US embassy in the capital of Kiev.
That claw movement executed from Washington was not going to be left without a reply from Moscow. And the squeaking sound of alarms in Zaporizhzhya only confirmed all the conflict hypotheses that were analyzed in the Oval Hall before the dangerous journey that Blinken and Austin III took to Kiev.
Next to the hangar that protected all the food and personal hygiene items that were donated for refugees, there was a narrower room that displayed very good quality second-hand clothing. The line was shorter, and most of the garments were intended for women and children.
“Clothes are donations from the locals. Nothing here has to do with international organizations. Everything is second-hand, but everything helps,” explained the volunteer in charge of delivering the clothes that had already been used.
Zaporizhia is a gray city almost 500 kilometers from Kiev. It suffers from Soviet architecture and has the Dnieper River that provides cheap electricity. Security conditions are firm at the train station and almost non-existent on its main streets and avenues.
There are few checkpoints, few twisted irons to stop the offensive of a Russian tank and sandbags were replaced by car tires on the edge of the extension. People are silent and the Ukrainian military - in charge of everything in the public space - are irritated when they have to ask the nationality of a foreign journalist.
The Kremlin announced that it would open - again - humanitarian corridors. This means that thousands of Ukrainians in Mariupol will be able to move to Zaporizhzhya to find a plate of hot food, search for missing relatives and assume that they have extended their lives.
Franco Fafasuli: Photos
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