A whole lot of bikes are left piled up on the outskirts of Zelenodolsk, a small city in southern Ukraine simply 15 kilometres from the frontline.
They function a poignant image of lives immediately interrupted as locals fled the warfare.
Now, almost six months since Russia’s invasion started, combating is intensifying in southern Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered a counteroffensive to regain management of Russia-occupied areas reminiscent of Kherson.
In Zelenodolsk — which is in Ukrainian territory and round 130km from Kherson — artillery assaults typically attain the city centre. It is pressured many to flee. People who keep barricade their home windows with wooden to guard from the fragments.
“It’s powerful right here, we reside underneath bombings,” mentioned Svetlana. “They fly over our heads on a regular basis. Sadly, we can not do something about it aside from hope that the army will shield us.
“I actually hope the counteroffensive will work. We can not proceed to reside like this. If it doesn’t work, I don’t know what we’ll do.”
The 53-year-old talks to Euronews as she stands in a queue to accumulate meals from volunteers – the one manner for her to outlive.
It is a bleak reminder that the financial influence of the warfare.
“I’m continuously in worry. It’s so scary, however we attempt to maintain on,” she added. “So many are out of jobs. It’s laborious to outlive.”
‘Financial scenario very tense’
It isn’t solely Zelenodolsk the place Russia’s invasion is taking its toll: Kryvyi Rih, the regional capital, 40 kilometres north, can be feeling the results.
A number of factories have closed and town’s largest employer, the metal plant ArcelorMittal, has needed to cut back its output, prompting job losses. Earlier than the Russian invasion, 22,000 folks labored there, though it is unclear what number of have been laid off.
“The financial scenario may be very tense,” Oleksandr Vilkul, the pinnacle of the army administration in Kryvyi Rih, informed Euronews. “95% of our exports and imports to our massive industrial corporations got here by means of the Black Sea.”
Russia’s blockade of the Black Sea has meant Ukraine’s ports have floor to a halt. Restricted shipments of grain are actually being allowed to depart following an UN-brokered deal between Ukraine, Russia and Turkey.
The influence on town is extreme. Retailers are closed, many individuals are out of labor and the specter of Russian assaults is fixed, mentioned Vilkul.
“There are many horrible issues that they’re doing. And I can inform you once we liberate extra territory, there can be a number of locations worse than Bucha,” he added, referring to claims that Russian troopers dedicated warfare crimes in opposition to civilians in areas north of Kyiv in February and March.
“The premise of Russia’s technique is to strangle our economic system and reduce us off from the Black Sea, the place our primary exports go.”
‘You might be simply ready for a missile to kill you’
Kryvyi Rih can be residence to a number of refugee centres, which have been internet hosting growing numbers of individuals after Kyiv — amid the deliberate counteroffensive in southern Ukraine — referred to as on locals to flee.
Many have come from the Kherson area, which Russia has occupied for the reason that early days of the warfare.
One in all them is Lena, 28, who spoke to Euronews as she was on the lookout for garments for herself and her household after leaving virtually all her belongings behind.
“We’re nonetheless scared. My son continues to be afraid to go inside as a result of he worries that Russia will drop a bomb on us. They did that at residence,” Lena says, “It’s higher right here. It’s extra steady. It isn’t solely about surviving, however I hope to return residence someday.”
Russia is presently contemplating having a referendum within the Kherson area to combine it into Russia: the same tactic was deployed when it annexed Crimea in 2014.
This implies Lena fears Ukraine can be unable to take the territory again and that she’s going to by no means see her residence once more.
“I actually attempt not to consider it,” mentioned Lena. “I really like my residence, and I want to return, however it’s too unstable.
“Each evening, once we had been sleeping, the home was shaking. You might be simply ready for a missile to kill you.”
‘I do not know what we’ll do’
Within the centre of Kryvyi Rih, captured Russian tanks and different army automobiles stand as proud symbols of Ukrainian success.
But some doubt whether or not Kyiv can retake Kherson and anyway, for a lot of, probably the most urgent preoccupation is arguably the financial scenario.
Vladimir, 40, is taking a look at one of many tanks together with his household, together with his 10-year-old son. He has work as a blacksmith, however, as a result of warfare, just for two days every week.
“I earn lower than half of what I used to,” he mentioned. “So it’s laborious. However it’s higher than others who’re utterly with out work. However nonetheless, we don’t have a lot cash.
“I’m not positive what we’ll do within the winter if this continues. We dream that the warfare will finish, however I worry that we can not retake territory. The scenario now shouldn’t be sustainable.”
60-year-old Larysa, who’s along with her grandson, can be anxious.
“If you happen to ask me if I critically suppose that we will retake Kherson, I might want to say that I doubt it,” says Larysa. “I hope so, however it will likely be laborious.”
“If we will’t try this and the financial scenario is like now, I don’t know what we’ll do.”
