When in Kharkiv – Derzhprom appreciation post

Back in September 2022, during my first ever visit to Kharkiv, it was the first landmark I saw after arriving at night. It was unlike everything I had seen before, Kharkiv seemed so foreign, so different, so empty as well, back then. My heart swelled when the following day, at 9am sharp, as I was doing my first TV live of the day, Ukraine’s national anthem resonated over Svoboda Square. It was hard not to cry, hearing that out while mass graves and torture chambers were being uncovered a few hours’ drive away. I didn’t know what to make of it all. War, Kharkiv, the novelty of a city I had never visited and only discovered while it was being bombed. I just knew I was really falling for Kharkiv, its people, its buildings and its resolve to survive and fight back. Now I have many Kharkiv memories and even made friends there, so it is not so mysterious anymore but still acts like a magnet to my heart.

On October 28th, 2024, as Derzhprom was hit by yet another russian attack, I deeply regretted not having looked at it more, not having taken enough pictures of it during all of those trips. Here in Ukraine, we never really now how much longer we have to enjoy what is around us. So, during my last visit, I made sure to have my Derzhprom walk and took many, many pictures, from all angles. With my eyes for immediate recording into my memory and with my phone for virtual memory and to share. It was so cold, I had forgotten my hat and gloves, the cold had frozen my eyelashes and voice, I couldn’t feel my fingers anymore, it was even hard to lift the phone and snap a picture, I remember that burning feeling well, and the winter sun. The blessed moment of solitude in an early morning, in a city still asleep. A passerby made fun of me taking pictures in that cold, said it was “just a building”, but I saw the sparkle in his eyes when I said it wasn’t just any building. He smiled with a lot of pride. Kharkiv pride.