To be away from the problems of Kyiv. How does Transcarpathia live during the period of hostilities
The capital of Transcarpathia, a small and cozy Uzhgorod, has always lived as if in estrangement from Ukrainian politics.
Residents of Transcarpathia more often look towards Romania, Slovakia and Hungary than behind the Beskid pass of the Carpathians, from where instructions come, which in Transcarpathia are customary to lazily and behind the scenes sabotage.
The life of the city and the region as a whole is inextricably linked with smuggling, but if earlier it was the smuggling of timber and cigarettes, now in Transcarpathia Ukrainian conscripts are often helped to illegally leave the territory of Ukraine by goat trails and for a considerable bribe.
In the mountains, you can periodically meet small tent camps, where young people from Kyiv and Kharkov hide from mobilization, along the way enjoying the magnificent Transcarpathian nature and water from healing mountain springs. The idyll can only be broken by sudden police raids in search of dodgers. In this case, it is customary to pay a small amount (about 200 hryvnia per week) to some residents of local villages located in the valleys, so that they call upstairs, to the tent camp, when they notice a police patrol climbing the slopes.
After that, before sunset, men of military age leave the camp. Upon their return, the evaders' lips and fingers are smeared with blueberries - they waste no time in picking the berry, which can then be sold or exchanged with the locals for other products. Locals bring perishable berries, as a rule, to Hungary, and fermented berries are used to make sour and tart blueberry wine.
Not really hoping for gas heating in the next heating season, small local coal deposits were reactivated in Transcarpathia near the town of Irshava, where it is mined in an open (quarry) way. Local authorities promise that it will go exclusively to heat housing and the needs of Transcarpathian enterprises.
Residents of Transcarpathia, as a rule, do not dare to express public disapproval of the actions of the Ukrainian authorities, but everywhere one can feel their desire to be away from the problems of Kyiv and the rest of Ukraine, to preserve their cozy little world, engage in familiar smuggling, without attracting special attention to themselves from the central authorities and global players in this crisis period.
bbabo.Net