Pascal, originaire de Bordeaux, reste à Kiev auprès de son fils de 19 ans
Impossible for the time being to leave Ukraine. Pascal Boiteux is based in the capital kyiv. It testifies to the courage of the inhabitants and their ability to adapt to this “war sale between brothers and cousins” he tells us. We contacted him this Wednesday, March 16.
He is a worried dad, but who clings on and underlines the courage of the inhabitants of this country under the bombs. The Bordelais Pascal Boiteux has no choice but to stay in kyiv, the city where he has lived for several years. His Ukrainian wife and student daughter are in France “sheltered”.
“My son, being 19, he is Franco-Ukrainian, has no choice but to leave the country, he can be mobilized. So I chose to stay with him, by his side, I was not going to go to detention my son. Anyway, he didn’t want to leave when all his friends went to fight. He doesn’t want to be seen as a coward, he loves his country.”
He regularly gives news to his brother living near Bordeaux. Pascal, sixty years old, is the son of Olympic swimming champion Jean Boiteux in 1952, who later became regional technical director in Aquitaine. Based in kyiv, he works in real estate with Ukrainian investors. Finally, was working, because since the Russian invasion, its activities have stalled.
He is one of the few French people still there.
If I hadn’t had a child of fighting age, I would have left Ukraine too.
Pascal Boiteux – Bordelais based in kyiv –France 3 Aquitaine
Her 19-year-old son is at the faculty of management in the Ukrainian capital, but of course everything is at a standstill. So the father and the son help as they can. Transport packages, spin helping hands. “I convinced him not to take up arms because I’m scared.” said the father of the family. But for how long ? The pressure in the country is strong and the men can register to participate in repelling the Russian military.
“We help people as we can without participating in the fights for the moment. He asked me to go and register, I try to convince him but it’s harder and harder.”
Pascal and his son are also carried by the attitude of the Ukrainians. The city of kyiv and its inhabitants are adapting, according to his testimony. The Russians are 15 or 20 kilometers away, but are not progressing. Russian President Vladimir Putin imagined a quick invasion but that is not the case. “Access to kyiv for half, from the south, is available. Trucks are moving, weapons are coming, food is coming. There are shops that will reopen, those that sell building materials. They are in trying to restart the country so that people can work, have an income.”
Life differently in any case, with roadblocks every 500 meters, where men search vehicles. But once again, what strikes Pascal is the incredible adaptability of the inhabitants.
“What is very surprising is that we hear the shots but people are circulating normally. The first week, people stayed at home, now they are circulating.”
Pascal Boiteux continues his life in this city troubled by war, this war between brothers, among his friends who live in the capital. “I have Russian and Belarusian friends. It’s a disaster for them, they are ashamed. There are a lot of Russians in Ukraine. My wife has a brother in Russia, a half-Russian, half-Ukrainian father. C ‘ It’s a horrible war. That’s one of the reasons why there are a lot of Russians who come and are not motivated.” This is what Pascal Boiteux thinks he knows when he talks about the Russian military.
It’s a funny war, it’s having brothers and cousins fight each other. It’s horrible.
Pascal Boiteux – Bordelais living in kyiv, UkraineFrance 3 Aquitaine
During our interview, he insists on a message intended for European countries. He is convinced that Vladimir Putin’s Russia will stop the war, coerced and forced on one condition. Not because of NATO armed intervention,” too risky” he judges. No. For him, the prosecution or not is linked to the sinews of war precisely, money. That which Russia receives by selling, above all to Germany, its gas and oil.
We must stop giving Putin these 6 billion dollars a day, so that he stops having money to send bombs and rockets on Ukrainian children.
Pascal Boiteux – Bordelais living in kyivFrance 3 Aquitaine
The Bordelais have, for the time being, everything they need to hold on, to continue as much as possible to live on the spot, also encouraged by the will and the mobilization of the Ukrainians. However, it is difficult to know what will happen tomorrow.