Ordinary Life Living on the Front Line of Ukraine
August 2024
Here in Khersonskaya Oblast we live along the front line, separated from russian occupied territory only by the river. Our area is much safer than many other parts of the front, but I hope it will be interesting for people to read about what life is like living here. Since our village was freed from occupation in November of 2022, we have been subjected to constant bombings, many hardships, and more recently this year a new enemy- Drones.
The dark joke here in our area is that the russians have opened a new safari park, but instead of hunting animals, they are hunting humans. This is an indescribable feeling, to know you may be hunted at anytime, for absolutely no reason at all, except that russian drone operators are sick beyond belief.
All along the extensive Kherson front, the russians send small drones with explosives attached, into our villages and the city. It is difficult because the attacks are so random, and the threat is constant. With the bombings, there is some regularity. They may bomb at anytime, but usually in bursts of 6 to 30 strikes, usually over a period of 3 minutes to 1 hour. They usually don’t often strike the villages more than 2-5 times a day. We get some breaks in between, there is recovery time. With the drones, the russians start hunting in the early morning, and we may suffer from drone attacks all through the day into the evening, in any weather. Some days there are 2-3 strikes, other days 30-40 hits. Because the drones are so small and quiet, you can’t hear them until they are almost directly overhead.
Who are they hunting? Civilians. They are truly creating a “human safari park”. In our village there are still a few families with children, quite a few middle aged people, but the majority of the population is elderly. The drones drop down low into the village, and hunt among the houses & streets. They hit whatever or whoever they take a fancy to. Sometimes they run out of battery, and the controllers just run them into whatever is nearest that they can damage. A house, barn, animal, electric pole. But more often they specifically target people, civilian cars, humanitarian workers, and first responders.
In our village alone there have been too many attacks for me to keep track of, but here are a few examples..recently russian drones have hit a woman driving her car to buy bread, an 80 year old grandfather riding his bicycle, an elderly couple sitting on their front porch, the hospital, the school, ambulances, fire trucks. You always have to be on constant alert. Am I doing anything that could look suspicious? Am I wearing anything that could be inflammatory? But realistically, russians don’t need any provocation or reason. Last week I was coming back from running errands in the city. As I drove around the corner, in the middle of the road were the still smoking ruins of a clearly marked international humanitarian car, destroyed by a russian drone while it was bringing food and comfort to the elderly.
One Sunday morning this summer it was so beautiful out. The sun was shinning, it was peaceful & quiet, the birds singing, pure perfection. I walked around the corner of my barn and thought, why am I hearing so many bees humming? I looked up to find the bees, and looked straight at a drone. He was hovering at my head height after coming out from searching inside my barn. There is nothing to do really in that situation, just hope & pray. He flew off and exploded into something else 2 minutes later.
Another time I was working in my flower garden, where everything is green & lush. Taking a little time for myself to relax & find comfort. As I am trimming a bush, the humming starts. At first peripherally, I am barely conscious of it. Then with a sharp shock to the nervous system, I become fully aware. The humming is louder & louder, all pervasive, surrounding you. It is right overhead. What do you do? Cover your head? Lay down? Run? What will be the least provocative? I choose to call my dog close to me, and walk slowly with her into the nearest building. I got lucky. What is the right choice with a drone? Who knows. There is no correct answer, because drones are controlled by a human. That russian operator might decide you are a juicy target. He might be looking for fun, he might be having a bad day. As a human being, this cruelty is so impossible for me to wrap my head around. What we see is the sci-fi looking, impersonal drone hovering over us…but there is actually a live human being, watching us real time behind those controls. The russians makes a conscious decision to kill or maim or let us live.
This summer was very tough for us here. In one week, the russians ran a drone into our 79 year old neighbor while he was working on his car. They destroyed his car, and he was severely injured. Then when the ambulance came to help him, they hit the ambulance & medics with another drone, loaded with explosives. Thirty minutes later, the russians multi bombed our side of the village and started massive fires in the fields across from the houses. We watched for 6 hours as the fires ran all along the sides of the village, praying they wouldn’t jump the road and catch all the houses on fire.
The next day, the russians used a drone to hit an electric box. Knocking out not only the electricity for the entire village, but also all the water systems, as the main pump is run on electricity. It became clear they did this on purpose the following evening when we sat down to a late dinner. We heard 3 bombs take off, but we are so close to their locations, we only have 2-6 seconds before they hit. You just have time to wait and hope. These bombs sounded different from normal, with a hiss and only one explosion. We were instantly on high alert. Again another set of 3, with only one hit and the strange hissing noise. Then a third time.
As soon as it stopped, we rushed outside to check. It felt like the world was on fire. Choking smoke everywhere, people screaming, the night sky was red. We quickly ran through our property checking for fires and that the animals were all ok. The russians had hit our civilian village with incendiary bombs- illegal & banned by the Geneva Convention.
This summer has been the hottest on record here. We have had consistent temperatures between 35-45 degrees celsius (95-113 Fahrenheit ) for weeks. Anyone who has ever lived in a dry, rural area knows the terror fire brings. russia uses incendiary bombs & phosphorus on civilians specifically to break our spirits. They literally use a “scorched earth” policy on us. This campaign on our village was planned…wait till the hottest, driest time. Take out electricity so it’s difficult for us to see & function, then take out the water, so we can’t fight the fires easily. Strike at night when they can create more panic & confusion, and when people are more relaxed- vulnerable. Then hit the fire trucks & first responders & people fighting the fires with drones using night vision. I can maybe understand planning a campaign & using these tactics against actual soldiers in real battle. But against ordinary people, it is an evil terrorist attack, pure and simple.
During this night, I was helpless. If our property caught fire, there was nothing I could do. In that moment, I mentally let go of my house & belongings. All I could think of was how to protect my animals. But how do that? My mind ran in frantic circles…catch the cats, put them in carriers, move them and the dogs to the root cellar. But what if everything caught fire? Would they be trapped? Die of smoke inhalation? How to save our farm animals? Just let them go free and hope for the best? Imagine this is your situation…how would you feel with the choice to watch your animals & home burn, knowing it was caused on purpose? You stand there knowing you can’t even evacuate if you wanted too, because russia would hunt your car with drones as you tried.
I am eternally grateful, that we personally survived those attacks without harm. But it is an unbelievably horrific sound to listen to houses exploding & burning all around you, knowing your fellow villagers are suffering unbearable losses. The guilt you feel that you are alright, while others are not- is very difficult. The fear of what might happen in the future, is a special terror. This is the psychological warfare russians specialize in. They want to break our spirt. It is very difficult to have to face the “what if” question on a daily, hourly, minute to minute basis. You can’t ever forget. It is hard to look ahead to the future, difficult to keep hope. It takes an enormous amount of strength, will, and faith to battle the dark fears.
I would love to say everyone here is strong & not being affected by this russian psychological warfare, but I can not. People are very depressed. They are losing hope. They are losing their homes, all they are clinging on to. They are being demoralized. Everyone is suffering from cumulative PTSD and exhaustion, not just our soldiers. People suffered dreadfully under occupation, now they have lost their jobs & lively hoods, family members have been forced to leave or gone to war, the 2.5 years of constant bombings, and now this new hybrid of drones & terrorist attacks.
Everyone has a different response to this horror russia is inflicting on us. For myself, I try to go about my day as normally as possible. If the attacks are too intense, I usually switch to indoor work. I try to do as little in wide open spaces as I can, but of course that is often not possible. I limit driving anywhere. When I drive in & out of the village, I drive as quickly as I can until I am in a safer area. I practice meditation, work in my garden, enjoy my animals, and try to find moments of peace and happiness as I can. I work hard to keep my moral up & be positive. Many people have left the village completely for safer areas. Some like my elderly neighbors- just very seldom go outside anymore, they are too afraid. Others totally ignore the drones & use dark humor to cope. They bravely go about their business without hesitation. They do the best they can to be normal. There is no right or wrong way to cope, everyone does what they need to survive physically & mentally until this war russia has inflected on us is over. It is not intense all the time. We have lighter days where there are less attacks, sometimes even for a day or two it is totally quiet. Those periods are blissful. It helps us to feel more rested, but it also brings a deep sadness. We begin to remember how wonderful life was here before the russians decided they wanted our land.
One thing I can say for sure, all of us in Ukraine desperately want to win this war and have it be over. To go back to our normal lives and begin healing. We need to be given enough ammunition & technical equipment to be able to protect ourselves & win. To save our people still in occupation. We need to be allowed to strike back at our terrorists. How can you help? Please, please, help untie our hands. Contact, write, call your politicians. Ask them for more support for Ukraine. Ask them that we be allowed to strike russian bases & airfields. Spread the word about our situation, share & tell our stories. Keep us in the news and in people’s thoughts. Donate to reputable foundations: United 24 at https://u24.gov.ua, Liberty Ukraine Foundation at https://www.libertyukraine.org, or any of the great organizations helping us if you can. Any little bit you can do will help us. We most urgently need more ammunition & technical equipment to defend ourselves.
(These articles are written anonymously with no locations for the author’s safety)