Volunteers fill sandbags to build barricades during Ukraine-Russia conflict, in the city of Odesa
(Picture: REUTERS)The access roads to the grandiose Opera House and Potemkin Stairs are blocked by walls of sandbags and barbed wire. The main pedestrian street and hub of the city’s nightlife, Deribasovskaya, is now paved with chevaux-de-frise and anti-tank barriers.
They are scenes reminiscent of the Second World War, when Odesa defended itself against the Germans and Romanians with such courage that it was awarded the title Hero City by the Soviets. Older people who experienced the occupation by the Axis troops cannot understand this reversal: the Russians are now the enemy, while the Germans, Romanians and Italians are the allies.
