Berliner Boersenzeitung - Fisherman's bad catch hints at ferocity of Ukraine battle

EUR -
AED 3.981486
AFN 72.626731
ALL 98.154382
AMD 419.683076
ANG 1.953932
AOA 988.047616
ARS 1073.396629
AUD 1.651718
AWG 1.953865
AZN 1.847061
BAM 1.951013
BBD 2.189099
BDT 129.556273
BGN 1.953941
BHD 0.408656
BIF 3140.275858
BMD 1.083975
BND 1.435358
BOB 7.518793
BRL 6.339741
BSD 1.084175
BTN 91.184351
BWP 14.493902
BYN 3.547945
BYR 21245.911914
BZD 2.185388
CAD 1.512113
CDF 3129.982344
CHF 0.94333
CLF 0.037756
CLP 1041.812707
CNY 7.720726
CNH 7.717138
COP 4795.234838
CRC 555.953729
CUC 1.083975
CUP 28.72534
CVE 110.511688
CZK 25.332286
DJF 192.644481
DKK 7.458454
DOP 65.483362
DZD 144.667742
EGP 53.026549
ERN 16.259626
ETB 131.21561
FJD 2.466087
FKP 0.829424
GBP 0.838254
GEL 2.964715
GGP 0.829424
GHS 17.723416
GIP 0.829424
GMD 77.508394
GNF 9355.789453
GTQ 8.376561
GYD 226.720983
HKD 8.430779
HNL 27.153997
HRK 7.467537
HTG 142.673193
HUF 408.123171
IDR 17169.677758
ILS 4.067459
IMP 0.829424
INR 91.156457
IQD 1420.007378
IRR 45627.225934
ISK 148.833915
JEP 0.829424
JMD 171.848312
JOD 0.768651
JPY 165.753927
KES 139.833168
KGS 93.009181
KHR 4422.618778
KMF 491.962514
KPW 975.577343
KRW 1493.815658
KWD 0.332423
KYD 0.903479
KZT 530.211175
LAK 23766.154394
LBP 97141.125743
LKR 317.596274
LRD 208.069434
LSL 19.100055
LTL 3.200697
LVL 0.655686
LYD 5.225173
MAD 10.460772
MDL 19.406291
MGA 5002.545451
MKD 61.279487
MMK 3520.708834
MNT 3683.347412
MOP 8.684869
MRU 43.375306
MUR 49.711508
MVR 16.704466
MWK 1880.697168
MXN 21.933879
MYR 4.746189
MZN 69.277257
NAD 19.10005
NGN 1781.415924
NIO 39.836493
NOK 11.981171
NPR 145.88999
NZD 1.817116
OMR 0.417326
PAB 1.084264
PEN 4.091468
PGK 4.235904
PHP 63.324203
PKR 300.807102
PLN 4.361784
PYG 8564.982895
QAR 3.946216
RON 4.973607
RSD 117.030329
RUB 106.498597
RWF 1477.458058
SAR 4.071209
SBD 9.018601
SCR 15.306132
SDG 652.015006
SEK 11.648364
SGD 1.437156
SHP 0.829424
SLE 24.660836
SLL 22730.412343
SOS 618.950147
SRD 37.521839
STD 22436.095984
SVC 9.485724
SYP 2723.520243
SZL 19.100042
THB 36.812194
TJS 11.524686
TMT 3.793913
TND 3.35386
TOP 2.538782
TRY 37.238559
TTD 7.349204
TWD 34.587518
TZS 2921.313251
UAH 44.807849
UGX 3969.260068
USD 1.083975
UYU 44.899823
UZS 13901.980989
VEF 3926756.737223
VES 46.237606
VND 27424.56997
VUV 128.691734
WST 3.036414
XAF 654.348315
XAG 0.032135
XAU 0.000398
XCD 2.929497
XDR 0.814889
XOF 653.098893
XPF 119.331742
YER 271.373559
ZAR 19.147232
ZMK 9757.080537
ZMW 29.082575
ZWL 349.039539
  • RBGPF

    -1.4000

    59.6

    -2.35%

  • CMSC

    -0.0200

    24.53

    -0.08%

  • SCS

    0.1100

    12.14

    +0.91%

  • NGG

    0.6700

    64.26

    +1.04%

  • RELX

    0.8600

    47.08

    +1.83%

  • RIO

    0.4400

    65.33

    +0.67%

  • BTI

    0.0900

    35.07

    +0.26%

  • GSK

    0.1200

    36.88

    +0.33%

  • BP

    -0.1300

    29.23

    -0.44%

  • RYCEF

    0.2200

    7.08

    +3.11%

  • BCC

    1.1800

    134.21

    +0.88%

  • CMSD

    0.1500

    24.81

    +0.6%

  • JRI

    -0.0300

    13.05

    -0.23%

  • BCE

    -0.1600

    32.1

    -0.5%

  • AZN

    0.2700

    71.42

    +0.38%

  • VOD

    0.0800

    9.35

    +0.86%

Fisherman's bad catch hints at ferocity of Ukraine battle
Fisherman's bad catch hints at ferocity of Ukraine battle / Photo: Yasuyoshi CHIBA - AFP

Fisherman's bad catch hints at ferocity of Ukraine battle

Ukrainian fisherman Artur Cherepovskiy knows it has been a bad day at the front if he fails to catch any carp from a river running to the hills hiding the Russians.

Text size:

The 32-year-old lowers a net down a rope from a railroad bridge overlooking the Kazeniy Torets River and hopes the thuds rolling in from the horizon will not scare his dinner away.

"They get frightened when there is shelling. It has to be silent when you fish," he says, shaking his head at the endless battles raging on Ukraine's eastern front in the third month of Russia's invasion.

"I used to be able to catch five or six good ones the size of your palm in a day. And now, in wartime, I might not catch any at all. It depends on how strong the bombing is. When it gets really loud the fish swim to the bottom."

Cherepovskiy's bridge in Slovyansk sits 20 kilometres (12 miles) southwest of Russia's furthest advance on two symbolically significant cities of the Donbas war zone.

The seizure of Slovyansk by Russian-backed insurgents in 2014 set off years of battles that culminated in an all-out invasion by President Vladimir Putin's forces on February 24.

Ukrainian troops managed to recapture the city and then set up an administrative centre for the eastern conflict in neighbouring Kramatorsk in 2014.

Both are now targets of a Kremlin offensive that has clawed away chunks of Ukrainian territory -- but failed to deliver the knockout punch Putin may have sought in time for Russia's annual Victory Day celebrations on Monday.

Cherepovskiy's bad catch hints at both the resolve of Ukraine's resistance and the strength of Russia's determination to reverse its neighbour's decision to tie its future to the West.

- 'Staying alive' -

The Kazeniy Torets winds around farms and forests until it folds into another river demarcating Russian and Ukrainian troops.

The Russians have been trying to push south past this web of rivers and then advance further on to Slovyansk and Kramatorsk.

The Ukrainians have countered by ferrying their strongest units from one hotspot to another to make sure the Russians are unable to establish a bridgehead on their side of the river divide.

Many of these soldiers have dirty uniforms from nights and days spent under bombardment from Russian warplanes and incessant volleys of Grad and Uragan rocket fire.

"It makes you reassess everything you have taken for granted in your civilian life," Ukrainian soldier Barada -- a nom de guerre he earned for his bushy beard -- said while watching a group of soldiers roll off toward the flaming front.

"Your mentality switches when you jump in an armoured vehicle. Your priority becomes staying alive."

Barada's group of men were lounging in the shade of a picket fence while waiting their turn to be called in to defend Siversk -- the latest of the tiny frontline towns teetering on the edge of near-total destruction.

- 'Sick and tired' -

Former Siversk collective farm worker Lyubov Baidykova stepped out of her gated garden to catch a few glimpses of Russia's assault on her town of 10,000 miners and crop growers.

She could see dark smoke rising for the fourth day from a large grain refinery that caught fire during a battle near the town's train station.

Her own house was shelled once in 2014 and again this month.

"My nerves are made of steel these days," she said after another big bang set her startled dog barking at the smoke-tinged air.

"I do not even react when the jets buzz by. They flew by three times today and I couldn't care less. I am just sick and tired of it all."

Rows of houses a few dirt roads down from Baidykova's simple home stood in ruins.

A cemetery near a patrol station that witnessed one battle had a patch of graves smashed apart by a rocket or mortar shell.

Houses that were still standing had no gas or power. The water meekly dripping from the tap was far too weak to shower or do the washing up.

"I can't leave because of my financial situation. So I live with the bombings, day and night. This is how I live," she shrugged.

(K.Lüdke--BBZ)