People Kharkiv suffer daily Russian attacks in a war Biden now calls a genocide

People Kharkiv suffer daily Russian attacks in a war Biden now calls a genocide

Transcript¹

The eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv is the country's largest Russian-speaking city. It's been attacked by Russia for weeks. President Biden is accusing Russian President Putin of genocide.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Almost 50 days after the beginning of Russia's war in Ukraine, the country's second biggest city, Kharkiv, is still under artillery² and air attack. Russia appears to be regrouping and concentrating its forces in the east of the country, with a major Russian offensive widely anticipated. And President Biden is accusing Russian President Putin of genocide.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Yes. I called it genocide because it's become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being able to be Ukrainian.

FADEL: That is a term that U.S. officials have avoided using until now. And the president says evidence is mounting. NPR's Eyder Peralta is in Kharkiv. And we talked earlier this morning.

EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE³: This is a big city. And before the war, it had a population of 1.4 million. But now it is desolate⁴. At night, the entire city goes dark, and that's when the heaviest fighting happens. We're staying in the center of town at a fairly safe distance from artillery fire. But at night and all night, we can see flashes of the explosions in the distance. Imagine a thunderstorm building on the outskirts⁵ of the city, and that's what it's like. We hear the rumble⁶ of artillery fire. And every once in a while, when there's a big one, you can feel the shaking under your feet.

Yesterday, we made our way to Saltovka, one of the northern suburbs here. And we saw residential⁷ buildings with big holes in them, power lines in the middle of the street, a whole market burned down, homes turned into rubble⁸. It was sheer devastation⁹.

FADEL: And it's not over for these residents. And you've been talking to them. What are they saying?

PERALTA: A lot of them are scared. In this northern suburb, we met Marina Vorontsova. And when we arrived, she quickly pulled us into the lobby of her apartment building, where we could be safe in case of an airstrike. And the night before, the building next door took a direct hit, and Marina looked shellshocked. Let's listen to a bit of our conversation.

MARINA VORONTSOVA: (Through interpreter) It is shaking. It's, like, yesterday it was trembling. Our building was trembling really bad 'cause there is a 16-story building across, and it was direct hit there.

PERALTA: And she says yesterday was terrifying. I asked her if the reason she didn't leave was because of her elderly mother.

VORONTSOVA: (Through interpreter) No, no. I can move her. It's not a problem. And she actually wants to move. But there's other people that we need to stay them for. And also, as I say, it's two dogs we have. So we're staying mostly for them.

PERALTA: So she doesn't want to leave because she wants to keep helping¹⁰. But this constant shelling is taking a toll¹¹. It's scary. At the main train station here, I talked to people who say they have stayed as long as they could. But now it's just gotten too scary, so they're leaving.

FADEL: So let's zoom¹² out a bit. Are people talking about what happens next, where this war goes from here?

PERALTA: Yeah. I don't think anyone has an answer to that. Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a speech yesterday in which he said that Russia would continue fighting this war. And the U.S., the U.K. and Ukraine say that in the near future, Russian troops will begin another offensive in the east. But what happens next is the hardest question for everyone here because that's all they know, that at some point there will be a big new Russian offensive.

FADEL: NPR's Eyder Peralta reporting from Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine - thank you Eyder. And stay safe.

PERALTA: Thank you, Leila.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 desolate   

adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂

参考例句：

• The city was burned into a desolate waste.那座城市被烧成一片废墟。
• We all felt absolutely desolate when she left.她走后，我们都觉得万分孤寂。

5 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

6 rumble   

n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说

参考例句：

• I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.我听到远处雷声隆隆。
• We could tell from the rumble of the thunder that rain was coming.我们根据雷的轰隆声可断定，天要下雨了。

7 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

8 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

9 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

11 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

12 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。