Laurence Geai: “Odessa is now a dead city”
A week after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the city of Odessa was barricaded. Checkpoints have been set up along the roads and in the arteries of the city center, known for its 19th century architecture.e century, its opera, and its Potemkin stairs.
This city on the Black Sea is strategic. This is one of Vladimir Putin’s objectives to crush and conquer Ukraine: to get his hands on its port, from which millions of tons of grain leave which finance the country’s economy.
Odessa is now a ghost town. It’s freezing cold there. Restaurants and storefronts are, for the most part, closed. I arrived on the 1stis March passing, on foot, through the Moldovan border, encountering thousands of Ukrainians fleeing in the other direction. Cars loaded with children and women. The image of a debacle. At that moment, no one imagined that the Ukrainian army could resist the power of the Russian army, which was rapidly advancing towards kyiv.
So Odessa empties. Every day, blue and yellow trains are responsible for evacuating civilians who wish to flee, leaving room for farewells filled with tears: in the name of general mobilization, men between 18 and 60 years old are forced to stay on the territory to face the Russian invader.
That day, I decided to spend part of the day at the station to talk about this heartbreak. I meet a family who are settling in on the train. With their agreement, I stay by their side until departure. I am silent and discreet so as not to spoil this last moment between them. I am very moved.
This man comes to accompany his mother, his wife and their 3-month-old son. The train is preparing to leave the platform, the long minutes during which they face each other, in silence, through the window, are overwhelming. Tears. Words mimed on the lips. Hands on the windows to pretend they could still touch each other. No one knows when they will see each other again.
These scenes are taking place all over Ukraine. On every station platform, in front of every train, in front of every departing bus. Families separate in urgency and fear, and flee the territory by the millions. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that more than 7 million refugees from the country have been registered in Europe.
This photo will be published on the front page of the newspaper the next day. Subsequently, I received many messages on social networks. Some wanted to find the family, in vain.
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