aHe speeds up the Zalaeherseh Street in Kherson, a Ukrainian soldier, pointing to the blown apartment and shards. “The Russians call this the red zone,” he says. No one lives here anymore. This part of the city, near the Dnieper River, which forms the forefront of Kherson, lies under constant drone attacks. Artem covers the car and heads towards a safer part of town where you can park in front of the cafe. With Ukraine’s southeast approach, the ceasefire talk is far-fetched.
Drinking a cappuccino, Artem peers into his phone and watches a live feed from a Russian drone flying through the red zone. It’s cheap, he says, so that communication is hacked. In theory, this means that you can see yourself being attacked. He says Russians are testing different types of drones in Kherson, as well as Ukrainians.
Russia continues to bomb civilian targets. On April 13, at least 32 people died in the city of Smee, the northeastern city, which includes two children. The missiles attacked while many admirers were at the Palm Sunday Service.
But Kherson is particularly taking a big blow to the drones. According to Oleksandr Prokudin, head of Kherson’s junta, there were 7,000 drone attacks in the state last month. 6,300 were hampered by jamming. “This is Star Wars,” he says. He spoke as he inspected the school’s basement, which had been converted to a bunker classroom. According to Artem, defensive electronic curtains were created along the river.
In November 2022, the heart of Kherson was filled with Ukrainians with retreats of Russians from the city that it had held for over eight months. Now the central square is empty and dangerous. The city is surrounded by powerful rivers. While the Russians are dug on the left bank of Dnieper, the troops engage in collisions that collapse across the ground of the wetlands on the almost uninhabited islands between them. The purpose of Russia is to seize cities, but the Ukrainians are to expel them from the areas they occupy. A deadlock pushes down soldiers who will be freed to fight elsewhere.
Over 70% of the Kherson and Zaporizhia provinces are occupied by the Russians. They are two of four Ukraine regions that the Kremlin claims to have annexed in 2022 (afterwards, only North Korea and Syria, led by former dictator Bashar al-Assad, have officially recognized Russia’s claims). “We are prepared for all sorts of scenarios,” says Prokdin, but abandoning Kherson’s vacant portion is not one of them. According to a Ukrainian intelligence source, the Russians made four attempts to assassinate him.
It is equally tough to inspect another brand new bunker school in Zaporidia, adjacent to state governor Ivan Fedorov. Ukraine faced a much more severe period when the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. He states: At the time of the invasion, Mr. Fedorov was Mayor Meritpol, a city currently in the occupied territory of the state. He was arrested by the Russians, but after refusing to cooperate with them, he was released in prison exchanges.
Ukraine will never accept the loss of occupied land, he says. “We understand that without the support of Britain, Europe and America, we cannot release our territory,” but if a ceasefire is imposed on Ukraine, it will only be a matter of time before the war resumes. “Trump can make decisions about US territory,” he says. “But it is not Ukraine’s territory.”
At the front of the Oricif 60km southeast of Zaporia city, the battle is constant. But the soldiers there say they have not seen a big new attack yet. Morale and confidence are higher than they were a few months ago. The “Battlewitch”, the deputy commander of the artillery battalion, said that although he had not had enough foreign or Ukrainian shells, his weapons supply has been significantly improved. The new Battlefield technology has improved accuracy. This means that each target requires less shells.
The politicians are rebellious and the soldiers are quietly confident, but the mood of the 115km Clivy Li, located west of Zaporia, is very different. Here, sadness is intimate with the call for revenge. On April 4, 19 people, including nine children, killed a ballistic missile on the playground. The Russians said they have launched a “precision strike” against a meeting of soldiers and western military instructors at a Rosemarin restaurant. In fact, staff who have just finished their children’s birthday party along with a meeting from the local business association said, cleaning staff. The missile fell several hundred metres below the restaurant just off the playground next to it.
Five days after that strike, the low-rise flats in the 1970s were creepy and quiet. A steady stream of people left them in the growing mountains, carrying teddy bears, flowers and toys. One of the deceased was 9-year-old Herman Tonpolette. After the invasion, his family first fled to Poland, and his mother, Irona, sobbed. “We didn’t think this would happen to us, so they came back a year later. This is not a war, it’s Putin’s fear.”
At a small shop nearby, paramedic Natalia recalled the massacre after the strike and the fear that a second missile might follow. Outside the store, flowers stood in commemoration of Vita Holovko, a friend of Natalya, who worked there. When Holovko died, she fell on her little granddaughter and saved her from sh shotguns sliced through the air. Natalia stood by a cabinet of frozen food and ice cream, and was merciless. “I need revenge.” ■
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