Waiting for the Russian assault, Odessa becomes a fortress

Odessa, Ukraine, 17 Mar 2022 (AFP) - The soldier merges into a long embrace with his wife and daughter, before barely separating before the barricade that blocks access to the sublime Odessa Opera House, a historic Ukrainian city.The so-called “Pearl of the Black Sea” lives scenes of strange everyday life, between the sweetness of the arrival of spring and waiting for a repeatedly announced Russian attack.Still safe from the horrors of the war in the north and east of the country, Odessa seems suspended at a diffuse time. The army and the city council organize visits for journalists, whom they thank for “showing the world what is happening here.” To access the historic center, converted into an obstacle course of sandbags and cross-welded iron beams, with tanks at intersections, it is necessary to show the credential; escorted by The center of this city, founded in the late 19th century by the Russian Empress Catherine II and the Duke of Richelieu, was bustling with people in peacetime, with its trendy cafes and the luxurious Paris Hotel with stunning views over the harbor.And, of course, with the 192 steps of the Potemkin staircase, where the Soviet Sergey Eisenstein filmed one of the most famous scenes in the history of cinema (in “The Battleship Potemkin”, 1925).” Attention! Stay under cover!” : surreal in silence, the funicular loudspeaker announces at regular intervals possible airstrikes; shots are sometimes heard from the harbor side. Dominating the stairs, the statue of the Duke of Richelieu, completely covered with sacks of earth, has gone around the world. The one of Catherine II, higher and less exposed, has a Ukrainian flag for all protection. - “Impregnable Fortress” - Lyudmila, an elegant old woman with her lips painted in a garish tone, returns home. He's always lived here. “Our beautiful Odessa,” he sighs, looking with an air of apology at the empty streets with barricades. “I don't know if there is another city like this in the world. But thank God we put up with it! "” It hurts to see our historical heritage covered in dirt bags and barricades, but we are prepared,” adds Diana Krainova, the young and smiling soldier in charge of the press. A few streets further, Maria, a tiny sixty-year-old woman carrying large plastic bags full of groceries, rushes to her building, whose entrance is blocked with tires. “I've lived here all my life, it's terrible to see this,” he says before he slips away. And suddenly, without warning, the mayor, Gennadiy Rujanov, appears, accompanied by some officials. Born in Odessa, mayor since 2014, the controversial councilman - his name had been cited in the Panama papers on personalities suspected of tax evasion and money laundering - stops to talk to journalists. “We had rehabilitation plans for the city center and here we are, thinking about war. It's a nightmare, it doesn't make sense,” he says, before repeating, like everyone else, that Odessa is “ready” to face the Russians.” The heroic cities of Mikolaiv and Kherson (east of Odessa) are resisting the aggressor army. This has given us 21 days to prepare (...) and make our city an impregnable fortress”, he proclaimes.Ukraine's first port on the Black Sea, Odessa, with one million inhabitants before the war (although more than 100,000 have already fled, according to the municipality), is a strategic and symbolic objective for Russians.cf/edy/aoc/js