A city which defends itself
The Kyiv Fortress is hosting an exhibition devoted to Mariupol
The project “Mariupol: A City Which Defends Itself” tells the story of life during the war. Its organizers have provided evidence of barbaric crimes committed by Ukraine’s enemies, including Smerch and Grad rockets that came from the pro-Russian militants’ positions. The exhibition, hosted by the Kyiv Fortress National Historical and Architectural Museum, includes a wide variety of exhibits. Windows that were broken during the shelling of Mariupol on January 24 are on display there, as is a mirror in an elegant brown frame, placed amid debris and inscribed with names of 30 people killed in this terrorist attack. “We brought this mirror from the village of Hnutove,” the event’s co-organizer Valentyna Okhlopkova told us. “A shell hit a house, demolished the roof, knocked down all the doors and windows, but the mirror kept hanging in the hallway, totally intact.” Okhlopkova is a Kyivite who often travels to the country’s east as a civic volunteer.
The central exhibit is a picture with the slogan: “Let the Kremlin beast understand that Mariupol is a Ukrainian city!” This is a reproduction of a work which local patriots donated to the New Mariupol volunteer group. Unknown attackers set fire to the group’s office in the fall of 2014 and burned down a lot of things, but the picture survived. Therefore, the work has acquired special significance for the activists.
The military donated remains of weapons and pro-Russian militants’ documents for the exhibition. Lt. Gen. Serhii Popko and the all-Ukrainian Union of Peacekeeping Operations Veterans were especially helpful. “I understand fully the importance of Mariupol, our main bastion on the Azov Sea,” the union’s chairman of the board, Col. (Ret.) Serhii Hrabsky stressed. “It was the people of Mariupol who actually saved the situation in the east in September 2014. We had virtually no troops in the area then, and would have found it hard to hold the line without the locals’ support.” Hrabsky plans to do projects about other war zone cities as well.
“As a soldier, I was most impressed by fragments of shells,” he shared his impressions. “I participated in combat operations in Iraq and Yugoslavia. I know how a flying fragment sounds, and you cling to the ground, afraid to even raise your head. It is scary even for a trained person, so it should be completely unbearable for a woman or a child.”
Another attractive exhibit is a vivid painting of a storm, painted by a marine who is now defending Mariupol. “The artist was born in Crimea, he is a heroic officer. He loves the sea and likes painting it,” Okhlopkova said. “This picture is somewhat prophetic, for Mariupol’s worst trials are still ahead. We, including its citizens, have to survive the approaching storm.”
Ukrainians must protect Mariupol, like other eastern cities, from the information aggression as well these days, Hrabsky maintains. The retired colonel believes that the militants will not storm the city any time soon, because they are not strong enough for it. “To take Mariupol, they would need a 50,000-strong army. Nobody will launch a direct offensive,” he explained. However, the atmosphere in the city is depressed, as the militants regularly attack the nearby village of Shyrokyne.
Nonetheless, Okhlopkova is sure that “we will hold Mariupol, because it is our city. Saboteurs and artillery hit Mariupol all the time, it is a full-on war. Although many locals do display separatist sentiments, the best people of Mariupol are a bunch of wonderful Ukrainian patriots. I urge everyone to join them in defense of our land.”
The exhibition will run until April 11.
