Posted on 05/21/2022 3:34:15 PM PDT by dennisw
Joe Biden: There's A 'Domestic Terror' Problem In America Once derided as a Kremlin sympathiser, Odessa's Mayor Gennady Trukhanov likes to collect his thoughts before delving into his feelings about Russia and President Vladimir Putin.
"The Russians are on our soil today and they are bombing our cities, killing our people and our soldiers. Our people are dying," the mayor of the southern Ukrainian port city told AFP.
"It is hard for me to speak of any kind of future friendship or relationship. I can't imagine that," the mayor added, his steel-blue eyes flashing as he rails against Russian air strikes, the Black Sea blockade and the millions of tonnes of grain trapped in his ports.
"Putin destroyed everything," he fumed.
Before the war, the 57-year-old Odessa native carved out a polarising career in Ukraine's raucous political scene as a one-time member of former president Viktor Yanukovych's Kremlin-backed party that was overthrown by a popular uprising in 2014.
But even as unrest rattled Ukraine and anti-Russian sentiment surged, Trukhanov continued to rise through the ranks and was elected mayor of Odessa only months after Yanukovych was ousted and violent clashes over the fallout rattled the port city.
But now, with thousands dead and millions displaced in the wake of Russia's invasion, the mayor bristles at the mention of Moscow.
With Russian troops just 120 miles away, Trukhanov oversees the defence of the country's most valuable port amid a suffocating Russian naval blockade that has unleashed economic catastrophe in Ukraine and threatens famine elsewhere if Odessa's bountiful stocks of grain remain landlocked."They are not only destroying our cities and killing our residents, they are also triggering an economic collapse," the mayor said.
The war with Russia has been particularly painful for Odessa, even as the city has avoided the brutal ground fighting ongoing across swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.
Cleaning up in Odessa after the latest Russian attack
Founded during the reign of Catherine the Great, the city -- with its baroque architecture and sandy beaches -- became emblematic of the glory days of the Russian empire and was later one of the most valuable ports during the Soviet era.
And as Ukraine gained independence, Odessa maintained its deep economic, familial, and cultural ties with Russia along with its own share of accusations in recent years of harbouring pro-Kremlin sympathies.
But the sentiment is changing.
On Friday, a member of Odessa's city council unveiled a proposal to replace the city's streets named after Russian cities and historical figures and be given new names honouring US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Gennady Trukhanov, Odessa's mayor today bristles at the mention of Moscow, his former ally
As Trukhanov points out, the centuries of goodwill that once flourished between the cosmopolitan port and Russia is being undercut with every new airstrike.
"With their rockets they think that they are spreading panic and fear among the residents of Odessa," Trukhanov said.
"In fact, they raise the degree of hatred of Odessa residents toward the occupiers and invaders even higher."
In between meetings on Friday, Trukhanov careened through Odessa's grinding traffic in his black Range Rover to visit the scene of a recent air strike, where he sought to reassure residents.
Hands clasped, Trukhanov nodded as locals from the area peppered the mayor with a slew of questions about rebuilding efforts and potential reimbursements.
"It's a crime," said resident Igor Shpagin, 55, while surveying the four-storey hole a Russian strike punched through his apartment building during the Orthodox Easter weekend last month.
"What can we do, this is a war between politicians," added retired police officer Groza Alexander, whose family survived the attack.
The timings of certain strikes have been particularly galling for Odessa residents.
On May 9 amid the festivities to celebrate the victory over Nazi Germany in Moscow, Putin laid flowers in front of a monument honouring the Soviet Union's "hero cities", including Odessa.
Hours later, a barrage of Russian missiles rained down on Odessa.
"What do you expect from someone who bombs children? People are dying every day here," said Alexandra Kaseyenko, a 29-year-old Odessa resident. "It's shocking for a lot of people. We used to be brothers."
Trukhanov shares the dismay at the staggering turn of events.
Russians and Ukrainians together helped defeat Nazi Germany during World War II, the mayor explained.
"No one could have imagined that in 2022 our people -- Ukrainian refugees -- would be hiding in Germany from Russian missiles," he said.
I guess there’s lots of Biden supporters there.
I’m surprised there’s no Hooray For Hunter street.
They even got the beach toilet. Darn you Putin!
They can name it Bowel Cancer.
I don’t respond to obnoxious, rude people who fling insults to those they disagree with.
Good-bye
‘Tis a mystery!🤷🏼‍♀️
Depends Parkway
I see this and about two posts above “putin only destroyed a beach toilet in missile barrage”
Two completely opposite results.
The propaganda is really starting to irritate.
“Did they speak up about the death and destruction going on in the Donbass for 8 years at the hands of the Ukrainian national guard? Those ppl are “their brothers” too.”
They were their brothers until they chose not to be by becoming separatists and attempting to secede. Not unlike here in the US in the 1860s, when we were brothers, and then we weren’t.
IF Putin is trying to gather together all the countries of the USSR....
Who is going to tackle the Ottoman Empire???
“A bit premature to state, since Russia hasn’t moved to liberate the city.”
Liberate? Odessa didn’t declare its independence from Ukraine, and wave Russian-provided Russian passports and claim they were really Russian citizens, and take up arms against Kiev, and ask to be saved by Russia.
Without even reading down through the responses, guaranteed 100%, many Scwab bosom buddy Putin/Xi/Pahlavi axis FR loyalists, will communicate Ukraine has no right to exist, it’s people have no right to live apart from Kremlin subjugation, and no right not to be enslaved to the Kremlin, if it doesn’t kill them first.
And the pro Putin/Xi/Pahlavi Freepers absolutely will do this in between their leftist style cherry picked historical context illiteracy, and regurgitation of globalist Putin talking points.
Oh yeah, and anyone who doesn’t back Schwabs globalist bosom buddy Putin, and Putins Russia/China/Iran axis is a neocon.
Yeah, whatever, got it...
Cause the Russian controlled 22.5 million square km CIS, with Russia itself being over 27 times larger than Ukraine, with three times more people than Ukraine, just isn’t big enough.
When the Supreme Soviet failed to take control of the world, there just had to be another way.
Truth is, multiple players want control over global governance architecture - Russia, China, EU, and US.
And both German born Leninist Schwab, and former KRB marxist/social marxist Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pope Francis), have been close to Putin for decades.
As with most of the world’s leftists, because of “optics” they have for self preservation purposes publically disagreed with Putins invasion of Ukraine.
“Overthrown by a popular uprising in 2014…”. Lmao.
“Putin may yet achieve his political objectives in this war. But it comes at the cost of engendering undying hatred for generations in Ukrainians for Russia. But Putin’s time is short in this world and he may not care.”
Ukrainians have long memories. In general, they hate the Russians (1932-1933 weighs especially heavy in their collective psyche). After this, the hatred of Russians will be universal rather than general.
Coming soon to a Street near you, mayor. You may want to get out of town.
“Then, how are politicians from all over the world managing to fly in and and out of Kiev?”
Did you not even read the story? You just reacted and jumped to conclusions without thinking? The mayor was talking about ODESSA, not Kiev.
“Odessa is in a region not content with the Ukrainian government. But if the mayor isn’t sufficiently hostile to Russia with his words he will be killed. Keep that in mind as you read this”
Like everywhere Russia left. Those reported as welcoming to Russia were rooted out. Slaughtered. Murdered. Then Russia blamed.
Don’t worry, if Ukraine doesn’t deal with reality, Odessa will next be liberated.
“Odessa is in a region not content with the Ukrainian government.”
Odessa voted for Zelensky in the first round of the 2019 presidential election, and again in the second and final round (in which he received 73% of the national vote).
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