The port of Odesa in southwestern Ukraine is a prime target for Russia due to its history and strategic position on the Black Sea. As soldiers and volunteers prepare for an assault on the city, even some local figures linked to the underworld have joined the war effort. FRANCE 24’s Mehdi Chebil reports.
Some 30 men form a human chain on an icy, wind-swept Odesa beach: They are shoveling fine sand into white canvas bags and passing them from one man to the next and into the trailer of a truck parked at the Odesa Yacht Club.
