烏克蘭最大社區，成為半座空城

烏克蘭最大社區，成為半座空城

I’m now in Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv And today I’m going to take you into Ukraine’s largest residential area Saltivka It’s located at the border between the city and the countryside It’s only 35 kilometers from the Russian border Because of that At the beginning of the war It was hit by the flames of war and severely damaged Now is it coming back to life or still as dead as before Follow my camera and see for yourself Hello everyone Coucou ça va Now I’m heading from the center of Kharkiv to the Saltivka community It takes about an hour to get there and I have to transfer between subway and bus Although it takes a bit of time the good thing is that public transportation here is completely free Kharkiv is the fourth city I’ve visited in Ukraine and so far the only one that provides free public transportation This is because after the war broke out the city government wanted to help people maintain their daily lives so they implemented this free policy allowing everyone to get around smoothly including the subway trams and buses all are free For the residents who are still in this city this kind of help really means a lot This is the first time I’ve seen a butcher shop in a subway station That’s pretty cool Delivering goods here must be quite a job The delivery guy has to climb those stairs Finally arrived at the bus station but after checking the timetable the bus will only arrive in 30 minutes which is about the same as if I walked so I decided to just walk It’s actually not far only 2.4 kilometers just a little walk Along the way traces of war can be seen everywhere Like the building across the street its roof has long been blown off You can also hear air raid sirens now maybe drones have come again Here you can also see some abandoned shops and over here it’s even worse an entire row of shops has been abandoned no life at all This looks like a garage there are still cars inside that couldn’t be driven away Finally arrived at the entrance of Saltivka community The road next to me was one of the routes the Russian army used to attack at the start of the war Three years ago the Russian army drove tanks and armored vehicles into the city center along this road Drive 13 kilometers that way and you’ll reach the city center Drive 35 kilometers the other way and you’ll reach the Ukrainian-Russian border You can see the scars of war left behind from here The gas station across has already turned into ruins The road next to it is the boundary between the city and the suburbs On the left are fields and bushes On the right is the Saltivka community The girl at the reception told me that if you go in from this road you’ll see the most damaged part of Kharkiv So without further ado let’s go have a look Oh there seems to be a bar over there These murals look nice not sure if they were painted afterwards But it’s a pity because aside from these murals everything else is just wreckage Here only the steel structure remains I don’t know what it was used for before You can tell from the entrance that there used to be a mall here but because it was so badly damaged now it’s just a ruin And from this angle You can see these two newer buildings and also this severely damaged apartment building It’s such a stark contrast After chatting with an old lady, I learned that these two buildings are actually rebuilt buildings Before reconstruction these two buildings were the first and second from the border and were heavily damaged They have now been rebuilt And the building next to them is being demolished The building next to me is the apartment I just mentioned Looking closely inside, it’s really too damaged Looking closely inside, it’s really too damaged and has no value to repair Currently, it’s in a state waiting to be demolished People still live in this building but look around it’s all traces of damage It’s really unbelievable There’s even an aunt cleaning the street downstairs Now let’s go inside and have a look at the community There are really very few people in this community Occasionally, you see a few people on the road but most of the time it’s like this with no one around And over here there are abandoned playground facilities As I walked into this community I found that there are really too many ruins here Although it’s very quiet now looking at these apartments I can’t help but wonder what they have experienced Every house might have its own story The park here is also desolate overgrown with weeds and the playground equipment has already peeled Even the swing frame has rusted like this It seems no one has managed this place for a long time That whole row over there are ruined buildings You can also hear the sound of demolition work Unexpectedly, there are workers repairing the outer wall I thought it would just be torn down and rebuilt This building gives me a very strong contrast The right wall looks like it was just built but the left wall is completely ruined It’s like two completely different worlds stitched together This building is also one that has been renovated Look closely you can still see signs of damage I don’t know what this building is Let’s go in and have a look The situation here is really shocking Take a look That wall has completely collapsed And there are still many tables here Feels like it was a school There are also toy cars here Could it have been a kindergarten? Now on the other side there is a mini-sized playground The air raid siren sounded again but people outside remain calm There are still some children’s toys and shoes here It’s really heartbreaking to see This is the main entrance of the building I just used Google Translate to check the text above Turns out this really was a kindergarten If I hadn’t come here myself I really couldn’t imagine even kindergartens would be affected But fortunately, the incident happened on a Sunday and no one was injured I found a lot of these stick-like things here Not sure if the thing next to them is a bomb shelter I’ll ask a local later if I get a chance While filming another air raid siren sounded The air raid sirens in this city really go off a lot several times every hour Look at this building its exterior has been freshly painted but the building next to it is already abandoned This strong contrast really surprises me The residents here are still trying to live their lives It’s really not easy I really admire them But at the same time, I’m also curious why they choose to stay here So I plan to interview some local residents Don’t you feel it’s dangerous here? Yes It’s very dangerous Very dangerous Yeah Very dangerous But this is my home Anyway, wherever we go nobody wants us It’s better to live in our own home Maybe it’s really dangerous But I’m not afraid This is my home I live here So I’m not afraid If it gets bombed, so be it Have you thought about moving away? We did think about it But there’s nowhere to go This is our home We live here and will keep living here As if nothing happened No I’ve never thought about moving No I’ve never thought about leaving I live here and will keep living here We just live as we can Whether good or bad we’ll keep living on Look we’re still planting flowers and trees here and keeping some pets Do you hear shelling every day? We do hear shelling maybe not every single day but we hear it often Yeah I hear it almost every day It’s over there towards the Russian border Our soldiers are still defending there not letting them advance into Kharkiv Yes We hear explosions and interceptions every day When those Shahed drones come they buzz like motorcycles Almost every day I want to ask what is that pipe over there? That’s a cellar In winter we use it to store potatoes and some vegetables The pipe next to it is for ventilation In winter we also put canned food there and use it like a refrigerator It’s cooler in summer and warmer in winter We can keep a lot of things there Are the potatoes or vegetables pickled? I don’t think we pickle potatoes just regular potatoes For us it’s our second staple food We also store carrots, beets, and cabbages and pickles for winter You probably haven’t tried pickled cucumbers and tomatoes? Maybe they don’t have them abroad because it’s a Slavic traditional food Along the way most of what I saw were buildings ravaged by war ruins and rubble reminding me of the heavy scars left by the war But what surprised me was as I walked further I saw more and more residents The houses here looked relatively newer more intact There were even playgrounds and grocery stores around It felt like life here was slowly recovering This is the closest I’ve been to the front line When friends heard I was coming here they all reminded me to stay safe You ask me if I’m afraid Maybe because this is my second time in Ukraine after visiting cities that endured the storm the fear I felt at first has slowly turned into a heavy feeling not numbness but a deeper understanding When you see with your own eyes that people here still live still smile still strive forward it makes you rethink what strength is what hope is On this quiet yet resilient land I’m not just a traveler but more like a listener recording feeling every unnoticed scenery and sound here In this city under daily missile threats there is also a grandfather from Japan running a very special café His name is Bunzoku Toji He is already 77 years old this year For three years he has stayed with the people of this city and because of this, he received Ukraine’s Legend Award And his café provides Kharkiv residents with a free warm lunch every day Besides lunch he also founded a library to give children a safe place to study This is not just a place to borrow books but also a place where people can briefly escape reality and find peace and warmth Why did you choose to come to Ukraine in the first place? At the beginning after the Tokyo Olympics ended on September 2, 2021 I moved to Poland However on February 24, 2022 when Putin invaded Ukraine many refugees fled to Warsaw Central Station I was volunteering there at that time and heard a lot of news about refugees still inside Ukraine I also saw such reports in the news So in March 2022 I first went to Kyiv What made you decide to stay in Kharkiv? In Kyiv I joined the Ukrainian army and continued military training in Kyiv During that time I heard there were many refugees living in the Kharkiv metro So I went to Kharkiv So at first about 200 people were living in the metro They told me I was the first foreigner to come here and I found out that except for me no one was providing aid So I decided to stay and keep helping them How long did people live in the metro station in this situation? When I came here since February more than 200 people were already living here After that until December 2022 of that year when the city government drove them out of the metro I lived in the metro for about 10 months together with the refugees After the war started what did you see here with your own eyes? What left the deepest impression on you? The children among the refugees were all very thin and the people living in the metro were also very thin Was that why you decided to provide free lunch here? Yes At first in the metro it was impossible to cook because the metro is not meant for living There were no toilets no drinking water only electricity cold in both winter and summer I saw many people living in the metro later being driven out and left to wander the streets digging through trash bins They had no money no jobs and could only scavenge for food from garbage bins More and more people like that So I decided to open a café serving free meals How did the locals respond to you? The locals were very grateful because I was the only one who came to help them Volunteers from other countries thought it was too dangerous here so no one came In such an uncertain city did you ever feel afraid or want to leave? I originally planned to move to Warsaw, Poland and I even sold all my property in Japan When I came to Ukraine from Poland I had already made up my mind so I wasn’t afraid at all Since I came to a country at war I was ready to die at any time Why did you want to open this library? Kharkiv’s schools were destroyed in the first year of the war and for the three years since then children have been learning through online courses Education is starting anew When Ukraine’s war is over I believe what the children are learning now will definitely come in handy Education is a powerful force about democratic ideas and freedom in the world I hope they can read more books to understand more and gain this as knowledge Ukraine’s future rests entirely on the children I believe the knowledge the children gain in the library will help them in the future and become the strength for Ukraine to achieve hope Ukraine’s children in 10 years in 20 years will surely lead this country into the EU and make it a nation with democratic and free thought I believe Ukraine will become the best country in Europe Even though this is just a small library I hope to spread this kind of library throughout Ukraine Where did these books come from? Were they donated? Half were donated and the other half I bought with Japanese aid funds and my own money Before leaving Kharkiv I asked myself a question Why did I come here? Maybe it was to see the real strength and fragility that you can’t see in the news Three years ago no one believed Kharkiv could hold on But it held on Today the people here are still living their lives rebuilding and smiling I think this is the resilience of Ukrainians In the second largest city closest to the front line what I saw was not destruction but life

哈爾科夫的Saltivka社區，曾經是烏克蘭最大社區，但戰爭來臨後，這裡成為最早被摧毀的地區之一。
本影片不含任何血腥畫面或鼓吹暴力，也不涉及任何政治立場，僅以紀實手法記錄烏克蘭最大社區的現場狀況與當地居民的心聲。

#哈爾科夫 #戰爭廢墟 #俄烏戰爭#Saltivka