Georgia: Russian Bombing Account

Veronica Khokhlova translates a post for Global Voices Online by a Live Journal user of the Russian air raid on the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti.

In the evening, on the way back from work, some colleagues were saying that they were taking the children out of the city, what if they start bombing Poti, since it is, after all, a strategically important city, and I protested, saying that this will never happen, that if Russians do decide to help Ossetia (it wasn’t yet clear at that point), they’ll help the Ossetian people and that would be it.

[…]

Around midnight I heard some roaring, ran up to the window and saw shaft of fire, explosions at the port and heard a deafening noise. I didn’t even have the time to get scared, I just knew that if a cistern with oil at the terminal gets hit, there’ll be fire and an explosion, so I grabbed the phone, called Tengo, Vika answered, screaming - Samira, the port is being bombed. Mama with Alina and our niece were running aimlessly around the apartment, the explosions continued, and we ran downstairs. There were people in the street, they were crying and everyone looked terribly alarmed.

[…]

It turned out that a bomb hit our terminal, my colleague, a friend, who was working a night shift, got injured with shrapnel, broken ribs, his lungs and head were hurt, too. The reservoirs were not damaged, only the foam station, and a substation at the port. At the port, seven people were killed, I guess, and some were injured. The guy who worked for the Odessa-Poti ferry agent company was killed. They also brought the killed ones from Senaki, the reservists were let go from there, another of our colleagues was injured by the bomb.

[…]

Poti hasn’t been bombed anymore, we heard some gunshots yesterday, but don’t know what it was. I can’t even imagine what it’s like for those poor people in Tskhinvali.

No one needs this damn war.

[…]

Those of you who write that here, you Georgians are getting what you deserve.

Deserve what? What for? Are we guilty of anything?