“I don’t know” are three words that, together, are absolutely unusual for Oleg Siniegubov (Kharkiv, 40 years old), governor of Kharkiv since 2021. This politician – also a lawyer, researcher and businessman – rarely gives interviews, rarely smiles, say those who know him, and almost always offers a clear and thoughtful answer to everything. Almost always, because that “I don’t know” that escapes him with an unexpected half-smile is all he manages to say when asked what his secret is, since he is one of the few governors of a oblast —province— Ukrainian who have remained in office since the start of the war.
The province he governs, partially occupied by Moscow in the first months of the large-scale invasion in February 2022, was liberated in September of that same year, but since May it has been under siege by Russia from several fronts in the north and east that the army is barely managing to contain. Regarding the humanitarian and military situation in the face of the latest onslaught of the invader, he does offer full explanations in this interview conducted last Thursday at the press center of his hometown, the second most populous in the country.
Ask. What is your main request to Western allies?
Answer. Kharkiv Oblast is supporting the fight for democratic values. The first request is, of course, that you do not stop providing humanitarian support, because Kharkiv right now is the border between democratic civilizations and the enemy, who is trying to attack the whole world. Our allies must also be aware that military aid is extremely necessary and must be consolidated in order for our army to be as effective as possible on the battlefield, because we are fighting for everyone; we are fighting for the freedom of all Europe.
P. Have you seen any results after the US and other allied countries authorized you to attack Russian territory with NATO weapons?
R. We have seen concrete results from both the military aid and that decision: the situation has changed, as our armed forces destroyed everything near the border, such as the S-300 and S-400 missile launchers that were used to fire at Kharkiv. For a month now, we have not seen any attacks with such weapons against the capital, although they are sometimes used in the rest of the province. This is a concrete result of the decisions that were made to allow us to fire on their territory. Now, in order to continue defending ourselves, we need to greatly strengthen our air defense.
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PWhat is the situation after the attacks that the city and province have suffered since May?
R. The situation in Kharkiv is changing as we are receiving attacks on smaller towns, but also on the capital, including those with very dangerous guided aerial bombs. Such as the FAB-500, which the invading army has also used over the centre of Kupiansk. Moreover, they are constantly being modified. At first they flew at a distance of 40 kilometres, but now they reach 80 or even more, i.e. they can reach the city of Kharkiv from any point. On the other hand, the enemy is increasingly directing its FPV drones [con pilotaje de visión remota] towards the civilian population. We have recorded more than 500 cases in the past few months. This is targeted terrorism because the drone operator can see what target he is hitting; therefore, they are deliberately choosing to target civilians. As for the front line, we have ongoing hostilities in the direction of Liptsi and Vovchansk in the north of the province, and Kupiansk in the east, with fighting taking place every day. The enemy continues to try to penetrate deeper into our territory, but so far has not been successful.
P. How has the response been, both humanitarian and military?
R. Since May, when the latest offensive began, we have displaced about 13,000 people from the Liptsi, Vovchansk and Kupiansk districts, of whom more than 1,000 were minors. We are currently evacuating 38 neighbourhoods in five districts and we need to forcibly remove about 60 more families, most of them with children, from the territories closest to the combat zone, where the threat to the life and health of our population is highest. Unfortunately, there are still many people who do not want to be evacuated, but we are carrying out operational search activities to identify them and try to take them to a safer place.
P. Is there any truth to the reports that the city of Kharkiv is also to be evacuated?
R. This is false, a rumour coming from the invader. We have been fighting fake news from the Russian Federation since 2022, as they constantly spread narratives about the capture of the city of Kharkiv, but there are no reasons for the population to leave it. However, we take all these threats as absolutely real, because the enemy does not stop trying to seize our territories. And, of course, Kharkiv is a priority target for them.
P. Russia has left Ukraine with less than half of its power generation capacity with its attacks on key infrastructure and the entire country has been suffering from power outages all summer, including Kharkiv, where the heating system is 52% ready, according to data from its administration. How are you preparing for winter?
R. We need to restore everything we lost this year. And of course, we need to think about how to protect the facilities from being attacked. We are decentralizing new equipment, heating systems, power supply, etc. We are preparing according to plan, but we cannot make predictions because at any moment another massive attack on our energy system can be launched.
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