06/18/2024 – Translated from Ukrainian via Google and OFP
The resort season in the occupied territories failed not only in Crimea. The once popular Berdyansk and Kyrylivka were also left with empty beaches, while the occupation authorities assure that they are full of people.
Those who rented out housing to vacationers in the summer have been without income since the start of the full-scale war, and Russian war criminals are now living in recreation centers and hotels.
Read more about this in the OBOZ.UA article.
They turn off the water and electricity, squeeze the business
The occupation authorities assure that the holiday season on the Sea of Azov has begun. According to their statements, vacationers go to Berdyansk and Kyrylivka, recreation centers and hotels are open for them. And the water park, dolphinarium and zoo are about to open.
In fact, the beaches in these settlements are empty. There are almost no cafes, restaurants, or souvenir shops. Resting in the occupied territories under a barrage of explosions and in the neighborhood of drunken Russian soldiers attracts few people.
“Our lights are turned off almost every day, sometimes the gas is turned off, there is often no water. Who would want to go to a city where everything is falling apart? The beaches are also dead, no one here has brought sand, changed sheds, or cleaned in three years. There are so many cigarette butts everywhere that they can be taken out by dump trucks,” says Valentina Hryhorivna, a resident of Berdyansk. Before the full-scale war, she lived by renting out rooms in her home to vacationers.
“The occupiers took away the hotels and houses from many owners, and threw people out into the street. It’s good if they’re alive. I’m afraid to be away from my house for a day or two, someone will definitely sneak in, and then try to drive them out,” the pensioner complains.
Hotels and recreation centers, the owners of which left Berdyansk, are seized by “Russian officials”. Locals say that the new “owners” do not invest a single penny in these houses, they do not even spend on the purchase of bed linen or towels. Not to mention cleaning the pools.
The once beautiful and well-kept Berdyansk embankment is gradually crumbling. Every year, the “authority” solemnly promises that the repairs are about to begin, and every year they run out of funds.
In Kyrylivka, boarding houses and hotels were occupied by the military
The situation is no better in Kyrylivka, which until 2022 was considered a good children’s resort. Families with small children from all over Ukraine came here to rest, and there was nowhere for an apple to fall on the beach.
Nowadays, rare vacationers on the beach are frightened by a Russian military helicopter hovering literally overhead.
Russian soldiers settled in boarding houses on the coast, villas and guest houses were turned into rehabilitation centers for wounded occupiers.
“They go to cafés, get drunk, get into fights, get shot. And would anyone want to rest next door to them?” – says local resident Hryhoriy.
The local “authority” under the control of the occupiers boasts that Kyrylivka and Berdyansk last year received a “record” number of vacationers – 200,000. However, this year Gauleiter Yevgeniy Balytsky lowered the bar somewhat and announced that 100,000 tourists will visit his estate.
In fact, the record figure was in 2019, when 1.5 million Ukrainians visited these resorts.
In order to create a picture for propaganda (and at the same time a human shield for the occupiers), children from other occupied territories began to be brought to the boarding houses of the Sea of Azov. And hotel owners who do not want to open and work at a loss are threatened with real estate confiscation.
In addition, weekend bus tours are organized from Rostov. They invite you to spend a cheap weekend on the Sea of Azov. Those Russians who do not have money for Crimea and the Krasnodar Territory agree to this. And here they can live for 500-1000 rubles per day per room.
“They are used to this type of recreation, at least there is a sea here, but they have a river and mosquitoes there. They drink beer, grill kebabs, then swear. And in the morning they go to the sea, to the dirty sand,” says Hryhoriy.
Although the owners of mini-hotels and recreation centers sometimes set prices even higher, for example, 4,000 – 5,000 rubles per day. But for that kind of money you can rent a house already in Anapa.
“Our lights are turned off almost every day, sometimes the gas is turned off, there is often no water. Who would want to go to a city where everything is falling apart? The beaches are also dead, no one here has brought sand, changed sheds, or cleaned in three years. There are so many cigarette butts everywhere that they can be taken out by dump trucks,”
It’s called ruskie mir. The cockroaches live like slobs in mafia land, so why not in the occupied territories? Anyone who witnessed a roach on vacation does not want to repeat the experience. It’s also a bad idea to sit next to one on a plane or other cramped situation.
“The once beautiful and well-kept Berdyansk embankment is gradually crumbling. Every year, the “authority” solemnly promises that the repairs are about to begin, and every year they run out of funds.”
Correction; every year, the funds get stolen.
When feral rats come into your home, you have to kill every single one. They are diseased, unclean, nightmarish creatures of Satan. They come with cockroaches, fleas, lice, bacteria and viruses.
All must burn.
And, there are no negotiations with feral rats either.