Íhor Térekhov: "I looked into her eyes and understood that the war will remain with all of us forever."

BarcelonaAs mayor of Ukraine's second-largest city, Ihor Terekhov is on the Russian army's priority target list. Kharkiv, the former capital, was, before the invasion, an industrial, scientific, cultural, and educational center of the country. It had a population of two million. Now, Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, just 40 kilometers from the Russian border, is a strategic city and, therefore, punished relentlessly by war. Kremlin forces bombard it practically every day. Kremlin forces almost conquered it. Mayor Terekhov answers the questions for this interview via email. He avoids talking about politics. He says he wants to talk primarily about the resistance of the Ukrainian people.

Bombs change cities. How has Kharkiv changed?

— What has changed most are the people. The inhabitants of Kharkiv can no longer be indifferent to the pain of others. We feel the suffering of others. War has made us more human, more attentive. The war has changed the character of the city: people from one end come to help those from the other when they are bombed. The enemy has not left us in peace since day one and continues to terrorize the civilian population.

Is there a scene you particularly remember?

— Everything is abnormal in a war, therefore everything is difficult to forget. The simple fact of waking up to the crack of an explosionSeeing a playground destroyed by shrapnel or having to build another underground school… These are all deviations from normality. But I often think of a moment at the beginning of the war: we entered a basement in a building in Pivnixna Saltivka [a district of Kharkiv] and found a four-year-old girl who had been locked inside for more than a month, without having seen the sunlight, only hearing the bombs. I looked into her eyes and understood that this war will remain with all of us forever.

At the beginning of the invasion, he had Russian troops at the city gates.

— And do you know what I remember most? The city's subway. During those days, some 160,000 people lived in the subway stations, sheltering from enemy bombs. It became an underground city, and there we did everything we could to keep a spark of life alive: we organized theatrical performances, concerts, we sent tulips to the women on March 8th… We even celebrated weddings. People wanted to live: not just survive, but live.

The people ask things of a mayor. What do the residents of Kharkiv ask for most?

— May the sky above their heads cease to be dark and threatening, and become once again a peaceful, clear, and safe sky. May they be able to sleep without fear, without waking up at night amidst the bombs. May they not fear for their baby's life as they stroll in a stroller through a city park.

Will the war end soon?

— I deeply wish the war would end. The sooner the better. But not just any way, but fairly. Not with a temporary pause, nor with a compromise that leaves pain and resentment, but with a peace that our people—civilians and military—can accept; a peace we recognize, a peace we have won. A peace for which we have already paid a very high price.

And what does this mean?

— Peace means having the assurance that the enemy will never return.

What do Ukrainians need now?

— Above all, don't forget us. Don't let the support, especially from our European allies, run dry. Don't let the world tire, because war doesn't tire; the war continues, and the bombing doesn't stop because the enemy doesn't stop. And we resist, we hold the line of defense, but we are not made of iron. We are human… And it is very important to know that they hear us, that they see us, that we are not alone. It is little we ask for considering that we, the Ukrainians, We are paying the highest price for defending freedom, also for all of Europe.

Think about what Ukraine will be like in the future?

— I am certain that after the war Ukraine will be stronger: with a modern army, an efficient economy, and a new political culture. Ukraine's future must be prosperous and bright: I see it every day in the determination and resilience of our people. And our future is Europe. Not as an abstract concept, but as a space of values to which we have always essentially belonged and which Russian aggression has reinforced.

But the immediate future holds another winter of war. The Russian winter...

— Yes, and we're already coming to terms with the fact that this winter will be much harsher than previous ones, although the previous ones were, to put it mildly, difficult. The enemy has returned to its cynical tactic: attacking the energy infrastructure. The aggressor doesn't just want to leave us without electricity or heating. Its goal is to force the inhabitants of Kharkiv to abandon the city, to make Kharkiv uninhabitable. We've done everything we can to prepare, but we're not omnipotent.

It is estimated that one million of Kharkiv's two million inhabitants have left the city since the start of the invasion. Will they return?

— Hopefully. And we're working to make that happen someday. We regularly conduct surveys, and according to the most recent data, 85% of Kharkiv residents who left dream of returning someday. But the bombs keep falling and the population, especially families with children, fear for their safety. For their lives. Another challenge is housing. It's very painful, but we estimate that 160,000 residents of our city have been left without a roof over their heads.

What is a typical day like for the mayor of a city like Kharkiv?

— Just like everyone else in our city. I wake up suddenly to the sound of the same sirens announcing the arrival of bombs. I walk the same streets that have just been cleared after a missile attack. And, like everyone else, I worry most of all about my loved ones during and after each attack. We are all in the same boat, rowing in the same direction: toward peace and rebuilding.