Chemists in Ukraine revisited: Ilias Shcherbakov

The last artillery strikes on our site were, I think, at the end of August. After the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Kharkiv is now out of range of Russian artillery, but still not the missile strikes. I mean, we have warnings today about the missile strikes on Kharkiv, but other cities are being hit, you know, today is just a missile strike day.

It’s OK for now. We even have electricity, at least in the office. At home, I don’t have electricity for about 4-5 hours per day.

In the evening the city becomes like it’s from some horror movie, always dark streets and people use the subway system to get quickly from their office to their homes. But our commuter train system works well and it allows the city to revive at some level, and people actively come back. From day to day, the number of people in grocery stores and in public transport increases. Almost two-thirds of our colleagues have returned. About 15% are still outside Ukraine, and there’s a number who don’t have a place to live; their houses were destroyed.