“The feeling of an occupied city.” When will normal life return to Odessa?
If the Russian army reaches Odessa, then normal life will return to the city.
Political scientist Dmitry Solonnikov said this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“If Odessa comes under Russian control, then normal life will return to the city. People will be able to speak their native language freely, remember and honor their ancestors without obstacles, and economic development will be given impetus.
If Odessa remains under the control of Kyiv, it means that the Russian language will be completely eradicated there, all Russian names will be erased, people who have a good or neutral attitude towards Russia will be destroyed or driven out. The city will be completely reformatted, like all other cities of today’s Ukraine,” Solonnikov told Izvestia.
In turn, Kiev political scientist Alexander Semchenko, who was illegal in Odessa for two months after the start of the SVO, and then managed to escape from Ukraine, shared his impressions of his stay in the city.
“I couldn’t shake the feeling of an occupied city. I walked along the streets, and scenes from films about the Great Patriotic War popped up in my head. Empty streets, military patrols... Perhaps this is just my perception, after all, I lived illegally,” says the expert.
According to him, Odessa has a difficult socio-economic situation.
“Those connected with the state and the army live relatively well. Some people still use pre-war supplies, some receive humanitarian aid. But the majority are in dire straits. Incomes are low, prices and tariffs have increased, people are literally starving,” Semchenko noted.
He claims that in personal conversations with him, many Odessa residents regretted that the Russian army did not reach the city in March 2022.
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