site.btaBulgarian Nationals in Kherson All Safe, But Situation Is "Critical", Community Member Says

"After the tragedy in Kakhovka, thank God, there were no victims among the Kherson Bulgarians, but the situation is very critical. In the coastal areas of Kherson, many private houses and the first two floors of blocks of flats have suffered from the flood. Many people's property is terribly damaged, people are in a difficult situation. Mostly affected were the residents of the towns of Oleshky and Gola Pristan, which are under temporary occupation, on the left bank of the Dnipro. We have no information from the Kakhovsky district, where Bulgarians also live," Yuri Palychev, a member of the Management Board of the Khan Khan Kubrat Bulgarian society in Kherson Region, told BTA's BG World column. He himself managed to evacuate with his family. At the moment they are still in the Bessarabian Bulgarian village of Zarya.

"According to official data about 1100 Bulgarians live in Kherson and the region, but according to unofficial data they are more. At the beginning of the war many of our members, mainly women and children, left as refugees for Bulgaria and other European countries. Many of the men of Bulgarian origin are at the front defending Ukraine from the aggressor," he added. 

Palitchev, who was the chairman of the Bulgarian Society for many years, the Bulgarians in Kherson region are mainly concentrated in the regional city itself. "The majority of Bulgarians mainly live in Kherson. We do not have a compact living of the Bulgarian community, like in Bessarabia and Tavria. Here live descendants of Crimean, Taurian, Bessarabian and Ternian Bulgarians. And our biggest problem is that the majority is assimilated and does not speak the mother tongue," he said.

In 2021-2022, the society won a project under the Bulgarian Aid for Development programme via the Bulgarian embassy in Ukraine. They planned to open a cultural centre in Kherson in 2022, within the events marking the 60th anniversary of the twinning of Kherson and Bulgaria's Shumen, Palichev said. 

In January 2022, the society bought furniture, books and equipment with funds provided by Bulgaria. Then everything stopped when the war began and Kherson was occupied in March and in the fall, before leaving Kherson, Russian soldiers looted the centre, Palichev said, adding that they have witnesses and intend to sue.