International reporting

War in Ukraine: a shifting identity for the people of Odessa

Audio 02:34

A woman with a child walks past a building destroyed by a missile in the Ukrainian town of Sergiyvka, on the outskirts of Odessa, on July 1, 2022. AFP - OLEKSANDR GIMANOV

By: Stéphane Siohan Follow

3 mins

In Ukraine, all eyes are on Odessa.

Since the start of the war on February 24, the splendid city on the Black Sea and its port have been the envy of the Kremlin, and in the din of artillery, a new identity is emerging for the people of Odessa.

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The sea, Alexander Kirienko did not see it for months.

And for good reason, he joined the army and went to war.

To put on the uniform in a unit where the majority of the soldiers were from Lviv and all spoke Ukrainian, while throughout his life, Alexander spoke only Russian.

“ 

In four months, I got used to speaking in Ukrainian.

I had a psychological barrier, I couldn't speak languages ​​other than the ones I know,

says Alexander.

But the guys in the army said to me:

"Go ahead, speak Ukrainian, don't be afraid, if you make mistakes, we will help you".

Now many in my circle of acquaintances have switched to Ukrainian.

Before, at least before 2014, in Odessa, we didn't hear the Ukrainian language.

Today, in the circumstances that we know, many have taken the plunge towards Ukrainian.

»

Despite the risk of bombardments, Yegor Terentiev makes it a point of honor to leave open the art gallery he opened just before the war.

Last summer, on a beach in Odessa, this 37-year-old photographer still attended a concert by Mumiy Troll, a legendary Russian rock band.

But today, Yegor is completely blocked: as soon as he hears a Russian song on the radio, the young man turns off the set.

For him, mentalities are changing, sometimes unexpectedly.

I think at least 80% of people who had pro-Russian ideas changed their point of view.

For example, a few years ago, I was dating a girl, an actress.

She adored Putin, and she did not hide it,

says Yegor Terentiev. 

She had many friends in Moscow, but when the war started she started posting pictures of Zelensky!

One day you like something and the next day its opposite.

»

“ 

You are for Ukraine or you are for Russia 

Odessa had a million inhabitants before the war.

It was considered the most multicultural city in Ukraine.

But Odessa is also a historical myth, a city created in the 18th century on Ukrainian lands by the Russia of the tsars, an imperial, Soviet city, marked by Russian culture and language.

Alexander Babich is a city historian.

He knows better than anyone how much Russian culture has marked the city for 200 years.

But according to him, the Odessites now understand that the very idea of ​​the Russian Empire cannot exist without domination over Ukraine: "

The Odessites understood in their flesh what the Russian world meant, when in the city , children were killed by missiles

.

 The war has greatly accentuated this feeling of black and white, that of a

bipolar world: you are for Ukraine or you are for Russia and there can be nothing in between.

»

The Odessites are in the process of passing a very difficult and painful psychological milestone: cutting the umbilical cord with Russia.

For Alexander, the identity of Odessa is in the process of mutating, the city desired by Empress Catherine II, the cradle of Russian culture, will henceforth be part, body and good, of a new Ukrainian national culture, cemented by war

► To read also: War in Ukraine: intense fighting in the Donbass, thousands of people caught in a vice

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