It was raining on Friday in Kherson. Like every morning, a dozen women opened their small shops in the central market of this city in southern Ukraine, on the front line with Russia. Two of them displayed vegetables and herbs on small long tables. Others, like Ludmila, hung jackets, winter hats and baseball caps, almost all identified with the symbol of Ukraine. Suddenly, two explosions were heard in the distance, but the women did not flinch. They even commented that that was a quiet day.
“It’s good that it rains… today they are attacking little,” said this 62-year-old woman dressed in a red jacket. This area of ????the city center, not far from the square where the Ukrainian flag has been flying again for a year, is frequently attacked. Also this market, whose roof was semi-destroyed weeks ago.
A handful of Ukrainian soldiers, said to be around three hundred, crossed in October to the left side of the Dnieper River, where the Russians retreated when they abandoned the city a year ago. The uniformed men who move through the city talk about the difficulties that exist on the other side. Of the problems crossing the river, which makes the evacuation of the wounded extremely difficult; the swamp, which does not allow us to reach positions these days; the mines left by the enemy, which have caused dozens of injuries; the Russian drones that are always vigilant, and the Russian attacks with aviation and artillery, which do not stop.
The attacks also reach the city, bombed with greater intensity for a few weeks. Not only with artillery or mortars, but with missiles and bombs. Many argue that the increase in attacks is Russia’s response to the Ukrainian offensive across the river. “I hope they manage to make them retreat, it is our dream,” said Natalia, a nurse from the city. We heard that cry on multiple occasions.
Kherson is today the Ukrainian provincial capital that suffers the most from Russian attacks. You only have to take a tour of the city to see the number of windows covered with wooden boards. Dozens of buildings are totally or partially destroyed, including museums, libraries and hospitals. This becomes even more evident in the areas closest to the river, especially in the sector known as the island, permanently attacked.
“There is no safe place in Kherson,” said Ludmila, the market seller, who spontaneously delved into the dramas that have marked her life since the beginning of the invasion, when the city quickly fell under the control of Moscow.
“I have come to work, but it is a sad day for me, yesterday I buried my father… If I talk too much I will collapse,” he added. The man, now elderly, died of an illness that he did not mention, but he is not the first in his family to die in recent months.
In February she lost her husband after an attack in a town a few kilometers from Kherson, where she lives.
Ludmila fears for her son, who is at the front. Her other daughter is in Germany with her grandchildren. And her house suffered extensive damage with the destruction of the Nová Kajovka dam last May. “What can I do? Just have hope that this will also end and that we will live in peace,” she said, wiping away the tears that ended up falling.
He wasn’t the only person who cried; In dozens of conversations I had during the week, many of the interlocutors ended up with waterlogged eyes. Men and women alike.
“Excuse me. I know I’m not well. I have spoken to a psychologist,” said Dimitri, 46, one of the many bus drivers who travels around the city daily. Several times he has come close to dying; months ago a passenger died a few seconds after he left the bus stop. But he has no choice but to go out to work.
Like Irina, who for days has taken the longest route to work to feel more protected. Get on three buses. It has decided that transfers are made only at stations that have cement bunkers, present throughout the city to protect residents.
When we found her she was at the entrance of one of those shelters waiting for the bus. “I recently went to work and literally in a matter of a second I felt an attack nearby… and there was nowhere to hide,” said the 45-year-old woman. It is all due to the proximity of the Russian forces, in some sectors only three kilometers away. They are so close that the alarms sometimes do not sound and the attacks come suddenly.
“I lived here during the occupation, it was horrible. Why am I leaving now? This will pass,” says Irina, who recognizes that she also lives in fear. She spends many nights in the shelters. She explains that two types of people remain in the city. Those who love the city and believe that they experienced the worst during the nine months that the Russians controlled it. And the older people who refuse to give up what they have. Around 70% of the 70,000 inhabitants are people over 60 years old.
“I was more afraid when the Russians were here,” explained Victoria, a 25-year-old single mother who lives with her mother and her 4-year-old daughter. “Then I was afraid that they would do something to Tatiana or that they would do something to me,” said Victoria, who only hopes that this will end soon. “I am afraid that the world will forget about Ukraine. “We will continue fighting, we have no other option.” Then her eyes watered, a normal scene these days in Kherson.