Press TV in Holmivskiya: Frontline Ukrainian town with war devastating effects

Press TV’s correspondent reaches Holmivskiya, a frontline Ukrainian town where the war has left its devastating effects.

A few days ago, the city's cultural center was hit by Russian forces and, according to Johnny Miller, it now serves as the town hall.

Miller also said two people were killed this week at a Russian monument in Holmivskiya which is mostly like a “ghost town.”

He also said, "the school has been hit many times as has the market and the hospital," but noted, “incredibly, in this desolate place, some civilians still live although most cower inside.”

He also said he managed to talk with Elena Khodusova, the head of the council administration.

“People run quickly to the shops, buy what they need and run home. People are simply afraid of going out. I can’t say how people live in the West of Ukraine. But this is how we live here. We hope for peace soon so we can start to rebuild the town,” said Khodusova.

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One of the regional civilian said to Miller that life in Holmivskiya was bad. “My nerves are shredded and it’s always tense,” she said.

“What kind of a state is Ukraine that kills its own people, sending brother against brother. We are hoping soon for victory,” she added

Miller also met Ivan Prikhodko, the mayor of the city of Horlivka, who uses a Ukrainian flag as the doormat to his office.

“This flag lying over there symbolizes the criminal state of Ukraine not its people. The flag is my personal trophy as well, I took it at the front line,” said Prikhodko.

“I was born in Donetsk and I loved Ukraine but those who took power in 2014 in the coup trampled over democracy and they do not care about the citizens of the East,” he explained.

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When asked about who should be blamed for the breakup of Ukraine, he said the NATO countries, particularly the US.

"They needed Ukraine as a hot bit of tension at the border with Russia,” Prikhodko said. "In 2014, they should have asked what people wanted, but nobody was interested in people's opinion."

"That's why we've got what we have now. We have a terrible war, dead Ukrainians, dead Russians. It's really horrible and those who draw benefit from it are sitting across the ocean.”

Strong 'explosions' rock Ukraine's southern city of Mykolaiv

While the war has dragged for more than four months, some powerful explosions rocked the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv early on Saturday.

The strike happened a day after authorities said at least 21 people were killed when Russian missiles struck an apartment building near the Black Sea port of Odesa.

Air raid sirens sounded across the Mykolaiv region, which borders the vital port of Odesa, before the blasts.

"There are powerful explosions in the city! Stay in shelters!" Mykolaiv mayor Oleksandr Senkevich wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Back in February, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing breakaway Lugansk and Donetsk regions in eastern Ukraine as independent republics. 

Russia launched its military offensive in Ukraine on February 24. At the time, the Russian president said one of the goals of what he called a "special military operation" was to "de-Nazify" Ukraine.

The military operation has led to heightened tensions between Russia and the West, with the United States and its allies slapping unprecedented sanctions on Moscow.

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