How Ukrainians in bombarded city are living in hope and despair | UK News

As Vladimir Putin’s forces continue to pound Ukraine’s second largest city, a British aid worker has described some of the heartbreaking scenes on the ground.

Michael Betoin is living under the intensified bombardment of civilian areas which has been described as a form of ‘Russian roulette’ for hundreds of thousands of residents. 

He told of elderly Ukrainians searching through his charity’s bins looking for scraps of food and others living in an outlying area having tears in their eyes when an aid run arrived.

Betoin estimates that more than 300 missile attacks have hit the north-eastern city since he arrived 11 months ago – including more than 20 close to his apartment. 

Kharkiv is around 25 miles south of the border with Russia, meaning Moscow’s forces are able to strike civilian areas before air raid sirens are sounded.

The former construction firm boss was among civilians awakened by loud explosions as a wave of missile and kamikaze drones were aimed at the city and others across Ukraine early yesterday. 

Since the outset of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, he has spent most of his time volunteering for Ukrainian projects, which has included servicing military vehicles, distributing food and materiel and helping to clear bombed-out homes. 

‘The World Health Organisation says about 18 million Ukrainians currently need some kind of aid help and despite our best efforts we feel that the situation is starting to slip away from us with donations to charities drying up,’ Betoin said.

‘In general, the world thinks Ukrainians per se are doing ok, because nobody is telling them any differently.  

‘Every day I see elderly Ukrainians going through our rubbish bins looking for scraps of food. One lady who I think is aged around 90 has been begging in the metro station. 

‘I gave her another 200 hryvnia, around £5, which is enough to feed her and keep her off the street for another three days.’ 

Betoin, originally from Grosmont, north Yorkshire, has spent more than 3,000 hours volunteering which has included making camouflage gear for soldiers and providing aid across a wide area through his work with the Turbota aid organisation. His outreach runs have included travelling to outlying settlements which are close to the frontlines and more isolated from supplies of food and medicine.

The international volunteer group has two sides dedicated to children and babies and the armed forces respectively, and takes orders for supplies directly from service personnel. 

‘Last month we packed bags of food and took them to housing estates in Kramatorsk,’ said Betoin, who is the group’s UK aid manager.  

‘We just drove around looking for elderly people and we found a lot of them sitting outside their blocks, with blank stares turning into amazement at food miraculously appearing from nowhere.

‘Some said their prayers had been answered, others had tears in their eyes. They all said they had little or no food. Basically, the elderly have been forgotten, but they are proud, hardy and have had tough lives.

‘They don’t complain, but they need help. 

‘Of course, some big food charities are operating and doing their best, but it is nowhere near enough, especially at this time of year.’ 

Betoin, 58, said the staff at his charity were recently told by their director to take the day off, following an exhausting 12-hour round trip to a remote, shelled-out village during which his car got bogged down in a huge ice puddle. 

His contribution was recognised at the weekend through a medal of honour he has been given for his services to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, where he helped clear out the ruins of homes in liberated settlements north of Kyiv before moving on to Kharkiv.

Presented by the 14th Mechanised Brigade, the cross reflects his contribution to Ukraine which he says he will continue despite the escalating danger.  

Two French aid workers were killed in Russian strikes in the southern Kherson region last Thursday, and British and British volunteers have also paid a heavy price.  

‘I recently visited Kyiv to deliver military supplies and went to Maidan to pay respects to British soldiers, the heroes who sacrificed themselves and will be forever remembered,’ Betoin said.

‘Our flags dot the Ukrainian losses. 

‘We should also remember how many British and international aid workers have lost their lives here. It is not for the faint-hearted. 

‘In recent weeks, for the first time, I have started to think that I could be killed here.

‘But it doesn’t change anything, because we need people, governments and organisations to stand firm and complete the mission for victory, freedom and peace for Ukraine.

‘There is no other option.’ 

Kharkiv is thought to be the focus of a Russian winter-spring offensive, although locals and Western military commentators doubt the Kremlin’s mauled forces will be able to launch a decisive ground offensive.

The city and wider region, which combined have a population of more than two million, is nevertheless painfully exposed to cross-border missile and drone attacks.

Betoin told Metro.co.uk that the missiles typically take 40 seconds from launch to strike, with the city’s air raid sirens starting about two minutes later.  

American journalist Joe Lindsey, who is also in Kharkiv, described the city as a place of ‘absolute defiance’ despite the continued bombardment. 

‘The Ukrainians will not surrender, and that’s one of the reasons why I’m here in Kharkiv, I feel that deeply here where it’s incredibly dangerous,’ he said. 

‘But it is possible for Ukraine to bleed out and the way that this can change is if we wake up America and get the long-range weapons needed. 

‘If Washington can follow the lead of London and have the courage to send the long-range weapons and permission to use them, that is absolutely necessary.’ 

Lindsey told the Battleground Ukraine podcast that long-range missile systems being provided by the US, such as the HIMARS rockets, were not being provided with permission to aim them at Russia’s legal territory, preventing Ukraine from being able to effectively answer the strikes on Kharkiv. 

‘Those people who live here do so very intentionally, they know it’s dangerous…it’s literally Russian roulette,’ he said. ‘It’s terrifying to be here but everyone I speak with says it’s important to be here because if everyone left it would open up the city to Russian occupation. So everyone, all the civilians, are part of a front in a way, they are keeping the city as part of the resistance.’ 

Lindsey said that Russian forces are targeting hotels because ‘Russians don’t want people to see what they’re doing’, including foreigners wanting to provide aid, and ‘it’s a whole new level of danger’.

He gave the example of his local coffee shop opening on time, serving newly homeless people and rescue workers, despite the windows being blown out in a missile strike. 

‘That is the spirit of absolute defiance I see here,’ he said.

‘This is the pole of freedom, self-sufficiency and people that want to live and make something of their lives and dignity versus the pole of tyranny and victimhood.

‘Russia can’t have something like Kharkiv, it has to destroy it.’ 

The respected US Institute for the Study of War said at the weekend that the anticipated Russian 2024 winter-spring offensive was underway in the Kharkiv-Luhansk region border area. 

Highlighting the perilous security situation, a two-month-old boy was killed in a Russian missile attack on a hotel in Kharkiv oblast on Monday, according to the region’s governor.

Three women including the child’s mother were wounded in the attack on the village of Zolochiv using two S-300 missiles, Oleh Synehubov said.

As the bombardment continued this week, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Italian TV that ‘we cannot lose hope or give up in despair’.

Do you have a story you would like to share? Contact josh.layton@metro.co.uk

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