- The Guardian Monday 2 May 2022
(^12) National
xSubjectxxxx
News
War in Ukraine
Isobel Koshiw and Ed Ram
Kharkiv
I
n Ukraine’s second city,
where the cascade of Russian
shelling has been among the
most relentless endured,
hundreds of people stood in
a line at a post offi ce , waiting
to be given chicken and potatoes.
As elsewhere in the country,
the mundane institutions of civil
society of Kharkiv have had to be
hastily repurposed for the goal of
keeping its population alive, and
about 30 such locations across
the city have been turned into
food aid distribution points. The
postal workers at this branch ofNova Poshta, who are being paid
by their employer to hand out food
instead of post, say that an average
of 3,000 people come every day,
seven days a week. They manage
the queues using the post offi ce’s
ticket system.
“There’s no work. The number
one thing at the moment is
humanitarian aid,” said Ihor
Shapovalov, a construction worker
who lost his job on 24 February
and had just received a quarter of a
chicken. “We just want to thank the
guys for everything they’re doing.”
Kharkiv has been the worst-hit
city that is still under Ukrainian
government control. Since the
war began two months ago,
civilians have died and been‘There’s no work’ People
queue for food handouts
amid economy in tatters
a rota. The volunteers say they
are also out of work but, by doing
this, they feel as if they are getting
some exercise.
A large chunk of Ukraine’s
workforce is unoffi cially employed,
as many employers want to avoid
tax and pension contributions. As
such, they were not eligible for the
$250 (£200) compensation that the
Ukrainian government distributed
in March.
Yuriy Ponomarenko, a 61-year-
old volunteer who unloads the
trucks and breaks up the frozen
chickens , was a weightlifting
trainer before the war. Most
of his trainees have left or areinjured almost every day as a result
of Russian shelling.
The city is starting to see signs
of life, but its economy is in tatters.
The vast majority of shops and
businesses are still closed.
Another man waiting in the
queue at the repurposed post offi ce
was 30-year-old Zhenia Myrhorod.
He said he had tried to get work
unloading humanitarian aid at
a warehouse, but there was not
enough work to go around.
“I even collected metal from the
missiles but couldn’t fi nd anyone to
buy it,” said Myrhorod.
The postal workers are helped
by local volunteers, who were
once queuing themselves and then
off ered to pitch in. They now have▼ People queue to receive chicken at
a post offi ce in Kharkiv that has been
repurposed for aid distribution
PHOTOGRAPH: ED RAM/THE GUARDIAN‘I even collected
metal from the
missiles but couldn’t
fi nd anyone to buy it’Zhenia Myrhorod
Kharkiv resident▲ Viktoria Anatolivna is 32 weeks
pregnant with twins and lives alone
with her son Danylo. She relies on
volunteers and soldiers to bring food
PHOTOGRAPH: ED RAM/THE GUARDIAN