Oleksandr, a resident of Kherson, drives through the empty streets of the city observing the buildings destroyed by shelling. “This is where they hit just this week,” he points to an apartment building.
The streets of Oleksandr’s hometown, where more than 300,000 people lived before Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, look empty and eerie today. Most of the windows are boarded up with plywood, and dozens of concrete shelters have sprung up on the roadsides. High sand-filled protective structures have been erected in public areas, enclosing playgrounds and entrances to the city’s administrative buildings.
There are now 143 mobile shelters installed in Kherson. “This is the highest number of shelters out of all Ukrainian cities,” says Oleksandr Tolokonikov, a spokesperson for the Kherson Regional Military Administration.
Cars only travel at high speed here and seat belts are not used. If the shelling starts, the belt will hinder a quick exit from the car, Oleksandr explains. His advice is to fall to the ground and look for a pit, a wall, or a shelter in case of gunfire.
“They shoot without warning, but we already recognise the sounds, so we will warn you. The most important thing is not to stand still, but to run as far away from the car as possible,” he says.
Kherson residents have learnt to distinguish the sounds of gunshots. According to Oleksandr, he can tell by the sound whether Ukrainians or Russians are shooting, whether it is a Western or a Soviet weapon.
Left bank
Another habit of the residents is to observe the Dnieper River, which divides Kherson into right and left banks. After the liberation of the city on November 11, 2022, Russian troops established themselves on the left bank of the river.
When moving along the river, people try to stay behind buildings or other structures that could protect them from shells coming from the other side.
But the situation on the Kherson front has changed in recent months. In mid-November, the Ukrainian authorities confirmed that the country’s armed forces managed to form a bridgehead and gain a foothold on the left bank, pushing Russian troops 3-8 kilometres east in some places.
But despite the landing of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the left bank of the Dnieper, Russian shelling in Kherson continues to cause almost daily loss of life. In the year since the liberation, almost 400 people have been killed in Kherson and some 2,000 injured by the ongoing gunfire from across the river.
According to Oleksandr, although the advance of the Ukrainian forces is a positive development, the Russians need to be pushed 30-40 kilometres away from the river to stop the terrorising of Kherson by artillery fire.
“From this distance, Russian artillery will no longer be able to reach the town, which means that there is only the threat of a missile strike, which can be forewarned of,” says the representative of the Kherson Regional Military Administration.
Despite the atmosphere of death in Kherson, people continue to live there. When asked whether they prefer life under occupation or in a free but shelled city, many of them opt for the second option.
Most important day
There are now only a few shops in Kherson, one of which is in the city centre. Dozens of people crowd around it, going in and out. Entering the store is like teleporting into another, seemingly ordinary life. It is crowded and noisy inside unlike on the city streets.
The shop is located next to the city’s central Freedom Square. When the first Russian tanks marked with the letter Z appeared in Kherson in early March 2022, people gathered in the square to protest against the occupation. Nine long months later, they again came to Freedom Square to celebrate the liberation of the town.
“When the Ukrainian troops entered Kherson on November 11, 2022, it was such a memorable event for everybody that we will probably celebrate this day for the rest of our lives,” says Inna, a Kherson resident, whom we meet outside the shop.
She recalls the occupation with horror – the town was full of military equipment, dozens of armed Russian soldiers marched on the streets, while people they did not like were tortured, “thrown into the cellar”, or even killed.
“The smell of the crematorium lingered over the city,” Inna recalls.
According to her, dead bodies peppered the streets, and Russians used mobile crematoriums to dispose of them, as well as of the bodies of their own killed soldiers.
Today, the shelling of Kherson by the Russian army is chaotic. On the city streets, occasional bangs or loud explosions coming from different directions are audible. Despite the indiscriminate shelling, for many people in this town, the most important thing is that the Ukrainian flag is flying in Freedom Square today.
“The most important thing is that everyone is alive and that we have seen the day when it is Ukraine here again,” Inna says.
Her closest relatives live in Germany, and she calls herself an ethnic German. But following the Russian invasion, she decided to stay in Kherson to take care of her bedridden 93-year-old mother and the pets left behind by those fleeing the city.
Hospital work
Kherson Hospital continues to work at full capacity today. The wounded are brought in after shelling, but routine care is also provided here.
Doctor Oleksandr Chebotary says there is a lot of work every day. The hospital was also operating during the occupation and after the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam. According to the doctor, it was the hardest when the Russians were retreating because they destroyed a lot of important infrastructure.
In the first days of the retreat, Russian troops blew up the Kherson TV tower. At 200 metres, it was the tallest building in the city. It is now a pile of metal that has been lying for a year in the thick of the forest near the river.
“For 24 days, we lived without light and water, and for about 10 days, without any communication at all. It is the most dangerous thing to live without communication, you can go crazy,” says Chebotary.
“24 days without light is a joke, but without water... We need to bring water to the patients. First, I went to the boat station, where they started pumping, so we got water from the borehole, and then Vodokanal started bringing water. [...] We did the best we could, trying to survive. When there was no electricity, the lift didn’t work. The generator was used only in the emergency room, so we only ran it when we were working there,” he adds.
According to the doctor, the hospital also faced a shortage of staff, as many of those with children fled Kherson after the invasion.
‘You get used to everything’
Sofia, a resident of Kherson, is rushing home from the shop. Her mother and younger sister are waiting for her. Her family lived through the occupation, which she remembers as the most difficult period of her life.
“Of course, it was difficult during the occupation. Now it’s also terrible, but you get used to everything, there is no other choice. It’s at least better now because we are Ukraine, we feel at home, we have some legal protection,” Sofia shares.
“You realise that nothing will happen to you on the street when you go home in the evening. During the occupation, it was very scary to go home at night. Public transport started to run because, during the months of the occupation, it was almost non-existent,” she adds.
At around 16:00, the streets of Kherson empty out and the city plunges into darkness. The city’s streets remain unlit to hinder the drone attacks. However, in the evening and at night, the shelling usually intensifies, so some Kherson residents go to Mykolaiv, about an hour’s drive away, to spend the night.
Sofia is currently in her fourth year of college. The education is conducted online, and although the lecturers do their best to help the students, the human interaction and simple joys of life are lacking.
“I plan to move on with my life. I’ve been through so much, so why stop? [...] Unfortunately, there are no jobs in Kherson and the vacancies are very low paid. And living in Cherson is currently more expensive than in other cities. Food prices are so high that it is difficult to survive,” she says.
However, according to Sofia, she has no intention of leaving her hometown, even if the opportunity arises.
“Yes, there is shelling, yes, it’s scary, but there has been shelling before, and the house has been underwater. But we survived, we are all alive, we are all healthy and we are all home. If you are here, you have to help rebuild the city because if everybody leaves, the city will be empty, there will be nothing left of it. And the city has to be alive for those who have left to come back,” she says.
People stay home
But why do people stay in the city, which is constantly being shelled, where there are no jobs and no normal life?
Oleksandr of the Kherson Regional Military Administration says that evacuations are carried out all the time but people do not make use of them, and it is impossible to force people to leave.
“The people themselves know why they stay. As far as the evacuation is concerned, it is not mandatory. It has been going on for more than a year, and 41,000 people, including 5,000 children, have been evacuated during that time,” he says.
According to Oleksandr, it would be much easier for the military if people left, especially from the villages on the frontline. But even if they keep explaining this, a lot of people choose to stay home.
“People are not leaving at the moment also because it’s still not cold, there are no big problems, ie people have electricity,” Oleksandr explains.
However, the Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly warned the country’s population that this winter will be harder than the last one. After last year’s shelling, it was not possible to fully restore the infrastructure before this winter. There are also reports that Russia has stockpiled more than 800 missiles in Crimea, which it is expected to use to attack Ukraine’s energy infrastructure again.
According to Oleksandr, around 55,000 people currently live in Kherson.
Ukrainian journalist Yevgenia Soboleva contributed reporting.
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