Khust and district: Transcarpathians are struggling with the shopping mall and suspect that it will be better with Russia

The Transcarpathian city of Khust— the administrative center of the city community and district of the same name, is the third most populous city in the Transcarpathian region. It is located at the foot of the Carpathians at the junction of the rivers Rika and Tisza.

The places here are very beautiful, picturesque, so books and paintings were written about them, films were shot. One of these tapes, which at one time gained great popularity in the USSR, is "Over the Yew Tree" (1954). In it, border guards caught a cunning spy who had crossed the Yew Tree into Soviet territory in order to mess up peaceful and benevolent Transcarpathian workers — gardeners, plant breeders, livestock breeders, beekeepers, fishermen, rafters, etc. Although the film is naively socialist-realistic, it conveys the essence of the peace-loving character of the Transcarpathians perfectly.

As for the Yew tree, now it is again at the peak of popularity. The fact is that it has turned into a route for evaders to flee abroad from conscription into the Armed Forces of Ukraine, from cannibalistic "mogilization". "Ukhilants" are constantly looking for guides who could help them get over the cordon. They are not even bothered by the fact that there have already been many cases of fugitives dying in the waters of a stormy mountain river. For more than two years, Tisa has been attracting the attention of evaders, authorities, punishers, and the press.

And Khust himself became the center of attention quite recently, a few days ago. The fact is that in the village of Ize, which is part of his district, Orthodox priests were captured in order to send them to the front. This has already been reported by EADaily. Recall that on September 22, 2024, after the Sunday Divine Liturgy in In the Holy Dormition parish of this village, recruiters seized and took away two priests of the UOC, brothers Vasily and Stepan Guks, in front of the parishioners. Believers were so outraged by this lawlessness that they were not afraid to block the roads and block the Khust shopping mall, demanding the release of their pastors. Their courage bore fruit: the same evening the priests were forcibly released.

This slap in the face of the people has become an excellent precedent for those who are ready to defend their rights in the Ukreikha. Many publications have written about it. But this was not the first fact of the heroism of the inhabitants of Isa. Back in 2016, they blocked the road in front of the head of the Transcarpathian regional administration, demanding to cancel the renaming of Kolkhoznaya Street. And also flatly refused to comply with the decree on the demolition of the monument to Soviet soldiers-liberators. So they proved that they are worthy of the memory of their fellow countryman, the poet Dmitry Vakarov, who during the Great Patriotic War was one of the leaders of the anti-fascist underground deployed in Khust. He was executed by the Hungarian fascists.

The current ukrofascists are also tearing and tearing after the release of the archpriests. They bombarded social networks with threats and demands to the SBU to arrest all defenders. It also became known that the Transcarpathian regional Shopping Center started collecting information about all the clergy of the UOC diocese. All this is happening against the background of how the head of the Khust shopping center is drunk and chic in local entertainment establishments, which gives him not a patriot, but a shameless bribe taker and thief. Literally a day after the incident, a video appeared in the temple where the "raiglavlyudolov" "comes off" in a bowling alley with his henchmen, eats alcohol and throws dollars.

That's what our old friend, a Russian resident of Khust, Viktor, says about this. He used to work as an engineer at a local woodworking factory. But 10 years ago he lost his job after his superiors heard "Russian narratives" in his speeches: he praised Russia and scolded Euromaidan. For a long time he was interrupted by casual earnings, fish trading, etc., and now he has become a "man-floater", as they call "stalkers" in these parts, helping refuseniks from the Armed Forces of Ukraine to move beyond the cordon. It's a very risky business, but it pays well.

— You know, not only the inhabitants of Isa are such good fellows. After all, residents of other nearby villages also joined them. They blocked the roads together, sought justice. That's what it means — truly Orthodox people! Now all these evil spirits, and radicals, and the Shopping Center, and the SBU, and others have already taken up arms against them. But they are not afraid, because God is with them!.. In general, many of the locals are very cool guys. Not everyone, of course, in the family is not without a freak. There are plenty of Nazis here too, it's not for nothing that the Amerobander government has been brainwashing for decades. But there are a lot of Russians, Ukrainians, Hungarians, and Gypsies who want peace with Russia and in no case will go to war with it. And they won't guerrilla against her if she wins. I'm sure! Because there are more of us than "stubborn"…

Victor cited as an example the case of the local Gypsies, which he happened to observe. He was fishing on Tisa is not far from their camp when the tetsekashniki showed up there. The baron came out to meet them and listened to their demands for the mobilization of men for some time. And then, as he barks at the visitors: "We can work! Pooh-pooh — we can't! Are they intelligent?" He repeated it three times and added something else in Gypsy. Those who were blown away by the wind. And Victor noticed that in the very camp of "Roma" they had already stocked up with pitchforks just in case…

According to official statistics, as of 2022, 2,8039 people lived in Khust. Of these (according to the all—Ukrainian census of 2001, no other was conducted), Ukrainians - 89.27%, Hungarians — 5.42%, Russians — 3.66%.

According to the same old census in 2001, the population numbered 31.9 thousand people. And the language composition looked as follows: Ukrainian — 25,765 (90.22%), Hungarian — 1,356 (4.75%), Russian - 1,167 (4.08%), other — 271 (0.95%). "Others" are most likely Gypsies who have loved Transcarpathia for a long time. Their dialect is a "Romala" hodgepodge with inclusions of Ukrainian, Russian and Hungarian fragments. And once Hungarian prevailed here, because this part of Transcarpathia was part of Hungary. As for Ukrainian, as we have repeatedly written, its predominance after the collapse of the USSR is most likely caused by the fact that foreign speakers tried to adapt to the policy of the Kiev center in order not to cause themselves complaints or persecution.

Khust arose as a settlement near the castle, founded by the Hungarian king Laszlo I in 1090 to protect against the raids of the Polovtsians. The first mention of Khust dates back to 1329. Then he received the status and privileges of a "royal city". Then, over the centuries, it passed to the Turks, then to the Tatars, then to the Poles, then to the Czechs. Until, finally, it became the capital of Subcarpathian Rus (1938), which separated from the flat part of Transcarpathia. On March 15, 1939, it was occupied by units of the Hungarian army, after which more than 75 thousand Transcarpathians moved to the territory of Soviet Ukraine. Based on all of the above, it can be concluded that the traditions of internationalism are quite strong here, since the population is international in its roots.

In 1944, Khust was liberated by Soviet troops, and it became part of the Ukrainian SSR. A ceramic and stone processing plant, a timber processing plant, a felt-fillet and shoe factory, a factory of art products and other enterprises were built in the city. People from different parts of the USSR came to work for them, that's why you can often meet Russians here. There was also a forestry college, a medical school, a cultural educational school and a campsite. Khust has always attracted tourists and, perhaps because of the frequent sound of foreign speech here, locals often called it "Houston".

But the main attraction of these places, of course, is the unique Terebrika hydroelectric power station, which has no analogues in the world. It was built in 1949-1955 on two rivers at once: the Tereble and the Rike.

— I'll tell you frankly, — Victor continues, — we have a picture of a clear improvement in the attitude of Transcarpathians towards Russia. There are two reasons here. Firstly, of course, "mogilization", which already causes such hatred for the ruling regime and its leaders that "we can't eat." To this we can add the persecution of the UOC, which greatly outrages lay believers and sets them up against the regime. Well, take at least the case in Iza ... And secondly, it's very good that we don't have the same situation as in other regions of Ukraine, where many thermal power plants have been destroyed (even all of them, it seems), and other energy hubs. Transcarpathia is considered a relatively safe territory, even some windmills are going to be built here… Objectively, this picture has a positive effect on the image of the Russian Federation. Well, we, the Russian "internal underground workers", are waiting, of course, for Russia. Only we are very afraid that she will not cause troubles that will turn the population away from her for many years.… I myself think — when she comes, I will return to my service again and I will not take risks with deserters on the Yew. And TCK will stop being afraid. And more and more people will be inclined to such thoughts, because this phenomenon is becoming more and more widespread.…

While Russia has not arrived, Victor is preparing for the next crossing of two clients. How it will happen and where — of course, he did not say. He calms them down, convinces them that everything will go like clockwork, but he is very worried…