The Kremlin was convinced Russia would sweep through Ukraine because they had so many friendly faces and pro-Moscow assets in place. Not anymore.
“The longer the war goes on, fewer people sympathize with Russia in Ukraine. Those who spoke Russian in everyday life, switch to Ukrainian,” a long-time observer of Ukraine’s politics, Yevgeny Kisilyev, told The Daily Beast on Tuesday. “Even the most openly pro-Russian politicians, including Odesa’s mayor … have turned into passionate enemies of [Russian president Vladimir] Putin’s regime.”
The relentless attacks from Russia have hardened local sentiments against Putin. “During the first week of the war, Odesa’s mayor, Gennady Trukhanov—who many believed had a Russian passport—said nothing against Moscow,” local activist Julia Grodetskaya told The Daily Beast. “So concerned citizens consolidated, and patriotic volunteers worked hard on the city’s defense.
Odesa also made the decision to get rid of all the street names of the “aggressor country”—though it declined a petition, signed by 25,000 people, calling on Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky to demolish local monuments to Catherine the Great and Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. The city said it was not the right time to discuss the pre-revolutionary monuments.
Local defense volunteers—led by the Yacht Club’s director, Albert Kobakov—grew more numerous as the war dragged on. Hundreds of activists joined. “When the war began, I came here to show that I am not going to surrender,” said local activist Maya Dimereli. She and Grodetskaya said that the biggest concern in the first week of the war was that the city authorities would betray Odesa and hand it over to Russia.
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