““The worst thing is if they leave us here. If they pass.” Report from the Kherson Region on December 24, 22:51 Share: Oleksandr, a resident of the village of Bruskinske in the Kherson Region, shows a rocket in his garden (Photo: Ilona Makedon / NV) The mutilated villages of the Kherson Region, scattered in the middle of the endless red steppes, sometimes seem like toys – it is so hard to believe that people still live in them. According to official data, the controlled part of the region was damaged”, — write on: ua.news
Oleksandr, a resident of the village of Bruskinske, Kherson region, shows a rocket in his garden (Photo: Ilona Makedon / NV
The mutilated villages of the Kherson region, scattered in the middle of the endless red steppes, sometimes seem like toys – it is so hard to believe that people still live in them. According to official data, 31,500 trees were damaged in the controlled part of the region. objects. Only 4,600 of them were restored. Demining continues at an active pace. If at first it was believed that demining the region would be possible only in ten years, now we are talking about the end of 2025. However, sometimes tragic explosions occur in demined areas.
Author: Ilona Makedon especially for NV
But the most important problem of the Kherson people is not destruction and mining. There is still no prospect of long-term security in the region. The de-occupied Kherson region is under constant shelling and the threat of a repeated attack. While Russia is making demands to hand over the Kherson Oblast of Zaporozhye to it within the administrative boundaries, the Kherson people themselves are horrified by such a prospect.
Velika Oleksandrivka
Residents of the right-bank Kherson region still have vivid memories of the occupation: the region was liberated only a year and a half ago. Humanitarian centers operate in cities and villages. People help the military: they accommodate them in their homes, give them the opportunity to wash and wash things, collect civilian clothes, food, hygiene products, etc. for them. And they feel sorry for the traitors among their own… There are many stories about how the locals, remaining in the occupation, stole the property of their neighbors, were friends with Russian soldiers.
Some really miss the occupiers. So, in Velyka Oleksandrivka, locals said, there are at least three women who befriended Russians and became pregnant from them.
“And they went to give birth in Kryvyi Rih, and left those children there. They were sent to orphanages for sure, – guesses local resident Halyna, and adds – those children would not have a life here.”
The woman also suffered from looting: things were stolen both from her house and from bars belonging to her son and daughter-in-law. The young couple now has to rebuild the business from scratch: they decided to open a small supermarket in the town.
Halyna is in no hurry to complete the renovation of the house, where she recently moved with her husband. Maybe we will have to run away again, she thinks, so there is no desire to bring the house to perfection. They will definitely not stay in the occupation, he adds. Galina is convinced that the authorities will not simply give up Kherson Oblast, but the encroachments declared by Russia and the intentions of the enemy army to force the Dnipro do not allow her to sleep peacefully.
Bruskinsk
Often in the occupied Kherson region there were cases of friendly fire between various units of the occupiers. There were also Kadyrivets, and Buryats, and units from the so-called “DPR” and “LPR”. Nataliya from the village of Bruskinske was convinced that her family was the victim of one of these shootings. In the first year of the occupation, in the spring of 2022, Natalia’s family yard was shelled. The husband died on the spot, and she and her daughter were hospitalized.
“I went to my husband – and he is torn. There were one or two arrivals, I don’t remember exactly. The neighbors buried the man themselves, without us (Natalia and her daughter were in the hospital – ed.). Thanks for collecting it [тіло]thank you for burying. They didn’t let the rascals dump it somewhere or burn it,” the woman says about her experience.
Natalia and her daughter returned to their home only after the release. In the summer kitchen, which the family converted into a home, Natalia’s daughter, Anya, conducts an online lesson. She works as a primary school teacher in a local school. The building itself was destroyed, although offline lessons are not held in the Kherson region even in the surviving schools.
“I expect victory. Everyone laughs at me, but I keep saying that there will be victory today and tomorrow. And I don’t regret anything, except my husband,” says Natalia.
The question of the transfer of the Kherson region to Russia mostly causes shock among the people of Kherson.
“It can’t be like that! How to give? How many guys died!” – Oleksandr, a fellow villager of Natalia, reacts with amazement.
Demining
The front line in the Kherson region has been running along the Dnieper for a year and a half. The de-occupied right bank lives relatively peacefully, especially compared to Donetsk region, Kharkiv region or Sumy region. However, the consequences of recent active hostilities and the lack of long-term security do not allow local residents to fully return to peaceful life.
The cities and villages located directly along the Dnieper are being gradually wiped off the face of the earth by the Russian army. IDPs are constantly arriving from the front-line settlements of the Kherson region to the rear ones. According to estimates, only 300-400 people remained in Beryslav, from where Oleksandr’s daughter recently evacuated. And before the war there were almost 12 thousand. The city is 70% destroyed, locals say.
The vast steppes of the Kherson region are now littered with mines and ammunition. The tails of unexploded rockets are often visible by the road, in gardens and fields. One of these sticks out in Oleksandr’s garden. It is difficult to fully understand whether it is safe or not.
“The rocket went deep into the ground. No one knows if there is an undetonated charge or not. If they try to pull out and the rocket explodes, I’ll have to replace the windows and roof in the house again. (…) It has been sticking out there for a year and a half, passers-by constantly come to take pictures of it,” says the man.
The Kherson regional military administration reports that the right bank of the region has already been demined by 62%. At the same time, he promises to finish the work by the end of 2025. The de-occupied Kherson Region is demined by everyone: the military, the State Emergency Service, and various international organizations.
“We walk on public roads. There are two very beautiful forests nearby – you can’t go there now. We go to the river only in those places where mines have been cleared. Children are not allowed. They started going to the park, but it is not known whether it is completely demined. In other words, we go, but not everywhere,” local residents try to explain their reality.
Novodmitryvka
The people of Kherson – like the vast majority of Ukrainians – do not take Moscow’s statements seriously that Ukraine should surrender the entire Kherson and Zaporizhia regions to the aggressor for the sake of peace. They say they will not agree with this development of events.
“How many boys died, and now give them Kherson Oblast?” – repeat the common opinion of women in the volunteer center located in the basement of the damaged school in the village of Novodmytrivka.
Local volunteers have already woven hundreds of camouflage nets for the needs of the front. They work every day, and they do it with pleasure. They say that here, among like-minded people, it is easier to experience war.
One of the volunteers, Lyudmila, came to Ukraine from Russian Sakhalin in the 1960s. On the eve of the war, her daughter died suddenly, and her son recently died in battles in the Kursk region.
Lyudmila survived the occupation in fear that the Russians would find out about her son’s military experience. He has been fighting since the time of ATO/OOS. Now Lyudmila rushes to school every day to weave nets for the front. Talks about the return of Kherson Oblast frighten her quite a bit.
“The worst thing is if they leave us here. If they pass. Those who have military personnel in the family will have slippers here,” Ludmila can’t hold back her tears.
She is ready to endure all the hardships of the war, but not to leave Kherson Oblast, because both of her children are buried here.
Hope for the Dnipro
Two messages are coming from the Kherson Front. Recently, the head of the Kherson regional administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, said that the Russians had gathered 300 boats to cross the Dnipro. On Friday, December 20, the media, citing sources, wrote that in the area of the Antoniv bridge, that is, near Kherson, there was an attempt to land an enemy landing force. However, the Defense Forces of Ukraine did not confirm this information.
“This is not true, it is too early to talk about a landing party. The Russians constantly carry out assaults in this area, but they do it by boat. Even on [надувних] mattresses, trying to hide their actions as much as possible,” said the spokesperson of the Southern Defense Forces, Colonel Vladyslav Voloshyn.
Forcing the Dnipro is not an easy task. For this, it is necessary to demine and create a bridgehead on the right bank, to build a strong crossing over which you can transfer heavy equipment. Resources for such a campaign cannot be hidden. The goal of the Russians at the moment is to create a bridgehead at least on the islands between the left and right banks, explains Voloshyn. To continue the pressure and, in the future, to develop success on the right bank.
“They still aim to create a bridgehead, for example, on Kozatskyi Island. To place certain fire means there, which can be used to keep our right bank in tension. Further, under the cover of these firearms, it is possible to create a bridgehead on the right bank as well,” the spokesman added.
The Russians carry out assaults and attempts to force the Dnipro in the Kherson region on a daily basis. In addition, they conduct specialized training and deliver appropriate equipment. The situation in the region is heating up.