A family in Kharkiv refuses to leave, even as the Russians shell their city

A family in Kharkiv refuses to leave, even as the Russians shell their city

Transcript¹

Millions have fled the war in Ukraine and left the country, but some refuse to leave. For one family in Kharkiv, their fight to simply staying alive has become their biggest act of resistance.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Millions have fled the war in Ukraine and left the country. But some refuse to leave, despite shelling and the threat of a broader Russian invasion. NPR's Eyder Peralta takes us to the home of one family in Kharkiv, whose fight to simply stay alive has become their biggest act of resistance.

IRINA SUDOVTSEVA: (Speaking Russian).

EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE²: One of the rooms of the apartment has been converted into a solarium. Before the war, plants climbed up to the ceiling, but the shockwaves of the shells and the missiles were too strong for their grip. They were ripped from the walls. Still, Irina Sudovtseva tends to them - she cuts them back. She waters them patiently. White roses peek³ out from behind bright-pink geraniums. Her pride and joy, though, is a pink bougainvillea. I tell her they're everywhere in Kenya, where I used to live.

SUDOVTSEVA: (Through interpreter) This one is really small, comparing to the huge Kenyan one, but still we're proud. It's our Ukrainian one, small one.

(Speaking Russian).

PERALTA: A tropical flower growing in Ukraine. She seems to get a thrill out of keeping something alive in a place where it shouldn't be.

SUDOVTSEVA: (Speaking Russian). (Laughter).

PERALTA: Hi. How are you?

SUDOVTSEVA: (Laughter).

LARISA: (Inaudible).

PERALTA: She walks out of the solarium into a back room where Larisa (ph), her 92-year-old mother, is reading an e-book - big print, but she still uses a magnifying lens.

The decision to stay in Kharkiv is grave. More than 700 civilians⁴ have been killed, and the fighting sometimes spills into the city. Buildings a few blocks from here have been blown up by rockets and missiles. Irina moves to the living room, surrounded by portraits, academic diplomas and pictures of the beautiful places she's gone sailing.

SUDOVTSEVA: (Speaking Russian).

(SOUNDBITE OF BOOM)

PERALTA: Is this what you hear all night?

SUDOVTSEVA: (Through interpreter) Pretty much all night. And also not only see - but we can have ability to see it.

(Speaking Russian).

PERALTA: So it's like New Year's every day.

SUDOVTSEVA: (Speaking Russian).

PERALTA: They've been living like this since 2014, she says. When Russia annexed⁵ Crimea, friends of theirs were displaced. Others were killed. She says it's a repetition of history. Through centuries, the Russian empire has claimed these lands.

SUDOVTSEVA: (Through interpreter) We knew that they going to come back. We knew that the Russians going to come back here eventually. If we have a choice between being fully⁶ taken, or we have a choice that we know they are coming to destroy us, you simply can't be afraid forever. There is no preparation that can get you ready that a bomb goes into your house. But you simply can't be afraid forever.

PERALTA: When this war started, Irina bought enough birdseed to last her months. She made a decision that she would keep tending to her plants and the neighborhood plants so they would bloom. So when this war ends and people come back, they'll still have some beauty.

SUDOVTSEVA: (Through interpreter) Our enemy probably thinks - and they want us to go into some deepest, deepest holes in this city and just be terrified. But they are mistaken. They are misunderstood. We are different kind of people. We are different breed.

PERALTA: When this war started, Irina talked to her husband and mom. Her mom had survived two strokes and a spinal⁷ injury, so they decided⁸ that she was too frail⁹ to get her out of this fifth-floor apartment. Instead, they decided they would stay and face the Russians if they had to.

SUDOVTSEVA: (Speaking Russian).

PERALTA: The next day, as a barrage¹⁰ of Grad missiles takes off in the distance, Irina's husband, Alexander Vdovichenko, takes a moment to teach her how to shoot a new rifle they got for this war. He's a policeman, so he could get drafted, and Irina might have to defend her home.

(SOUNDBITE OF RELOADING RIFLE)

ALEXANDER VDOVICHENKO: (Speaking Russian).

PERALTA: She takes one practice shot. She's 56, barely 5 feet tall. The rifle is almost her size. Alexander tells her, don't be deliberate. Shoot once and keep shooting.

VDOVICHENKO: (Speaking Russian).

SUDOVTSEVA: (Speaking Russian).

(SOUNDBITE OF FIRING RIFLE)

PERALTA: Irina gives him a look of, I know this and takes off to see her mom, who is finishing her soup. One of the hardest things about this situation is that Larisa always stays in this room. Irina has made it beautiful with flowers and plants reaching toward the windows, with elaborate tapestries¹¹ on the walls. But at night, when the shelling gets bad, they have decided that Irina and her husband sleep in the basement, and Larisa sleeps in this room.

LARISA: (Speaking Russian).

PERALTA: A missile strike doesn't worry her, she says. She's lived a long, happy life. But in the morning, when she's waiting for her daughter to return, her mind reels.

LARISA: (Through interpreter) So every time they leave, I ask, for how long? And if they don't come back to me, I wait for another 30 minutes. If they're not here after another 30 minutes, I start thinking that something bad has happened. And I think, just let it be. Let me die.

PERALTA: Irina tells her, I always come back. She reminds her mother that they had agreed to stay and to fight. But her mom says no one expected the war to build so fast, to be so violent. She looks sad.

LARISA: (Through interpreter) I've had a long life. It was a good life. But now I feel that by being alive, I'm taking life away from you.

PERALTA: Irina stops her before she finishes. She caresses¹² her hand. Then she leaves her mom with her books. Larisa has been reading science fiction, which at the moment, she says, doesn't feel very strange. Irina returns to her bougainvilleas, to her birds, to her rifle. She says she wishes that these weren't the choices in front of them. She says she doesn't want anyone to think that they're making them because they're brave.

SUDOVTSEVA: (Speaking Russian).

PERALTA: "I can't say that we're heroes," she says. "We're just simply trying to live."

Eyder Peralta, NPR News, Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine.

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 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。

3 peek   

vi.偷看，窥视；n.偷偷的一看，一瞥

参考例句：

• Larry takes a peek out of the window.赖瑞往窗外偷看了一下。
• Cover your eyes and don't peek.捂上眼睛，别偷看。

4 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

5 annexed   

[法] 附加的，附属的

参考例句：

• Germany annexed Austria in 1938. 1938年德国吞并了奥地利。
• The outlying villages were formally annexed by the town last year. 那些偏远的村庄于去年正式被并入该镇。

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 frail   

adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的

参考例句：

• Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了，身体虚弱，不便独居。
• She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上，看上去特别虚弱。

10 barrage   

n.火力网，弹幕

参考例句：

• The attack jumped off under cover of a barrage.进攻在炮火的掩护下开始了。
• The fierce artillery barrage destroyed the most part of the city in a few minutes.猛烈的炮火几分钟内便毁灭了这座城市的大部分地区。

11 tapestries   

n.挂毯( tapestry的名词复数 )；绣帷，织锦v.用挂毯（或绣帷）装饰( tapestry的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The wall of the banqueting hall were hung with tapestries. 宴会厅的墙上挂有壁毯。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The rooms were hung with tapestries. 房间里都装饰着挂毯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 caresses   

爱抚，抚摸( caress的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A breeze caresses the cheeks. 微风拂面。
• Hetty was not sufficiently familiar with caresses or outward demonstrations of fondness. 海蒂不习惯于拥抱之类过于外露地表现自己的感情。