Yesterday started wildly for the "guards" of Odessa.
They are the residents who have driven away husbands and children and remain in the city to protect it from the Russian invasion.
"We woke up at 6.00 a.m. on Monday morning to the shelling. The Russians hit houses about a kilometer and a half away from ours," businessman Vassilis Boubouras tells iefimerida.gr.
Son of Pantelis Boubouras, who has been active in the construction sector in Ukraine for 25 years, he chose to stay in Odessa with his father and brother Spyros , when Putin's war machine started roaring into Ukrainian territory.
Pantelis Boubouras with his sons Spyros and Vasilis remained in Odessa[BR]"When the attack started I panicked because my family was here. But when my wife and children managed to get away I decided to stay calm and deal with the situation. Every day I go to my office which is between the wall and the Museum of the Society of Friendship. We have allocated our staff and machinery to the fortification works and have also taken over a section of the city for evacuations if needed. A team of our workers with machinery is on standby in shifts around the clock to rush in and help in case buildings are bombed and people are trapped."
In Odessa , where sirens and bells are constantly sounding and everyone fears a fierce attack from the Black Sea, Greeks are now counted on the fingers of one hand. "There are only three of us left and a dance teacher who used to teach the Ukrainian children Greek dances. Consider that in 400 apartment buildings there are now only 20 open. When there is a war, everyone takes his risks. We live in a city where half the inhabitants walk around with Kalashnikovs in their hands. We make an appointment with someone at the office and he comes armed. It's not an easy situation, but Odessa won't fall easily either. The people here are ready to die."
Improvised shelters in the basements of the buildings
Improvised shelters with food, medicine, water and blankets have been set up in the basements of the Buboura family's buildings that can accommodate up to 5 people.000 people if needed.
Until then they try to follow their usual schedule to a certain extent "Every day I go to the office , I read the news for half an hour no more because one can go crazy. We still have construction sites where we have 200 people working out of the 2000 we employ in total. We go out and monitor our crews in the fortification works to help where needed."
As for the end of the war, according to the Greek businessman, it is not in sight . "All wars have ended with negotiations. As much as we want all this to end, we know that a solution has to be found that will last, that will be sustainable. So far neither has a clear superiority on the ground , neither can say they are winners and it is likely that the fan of conflict will be opened. For Putin, however, the serious problems will come from within, from the cadres and oligarchs. If Russia's stock market opens today, the general index could lose half its value. The reaction will come from the powerful Russians, not from the people."
The referendum referred to by Volodymyr Zelensky will be judged, according to Boubouras, by the questions and the wording of the answers. The people in Ukraine, he stresses, are now fanatical and determined to protect their country at all costs.
Source: iefimerida.gr
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