KOZATSKE, Ukraine (AP) — A white towel on her gate and a white rag in her hand were Ukrainian Nataliia Diadiuk’s only ways to tell Russian drone operators she is a civilian.
asserted
she → tell → operators
When a brief ceasefire kicked in on Oct. 27, she had a moment of respite.
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she → kick → respite
The 53-year-old is one of a handful of residents left in Kozatske, a riverside village located in the kill zone of Ukraine’s Kherson region less than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from a Russian-controlled area.
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old → leave → area
“I really want silence,” Diadiuk said, fighting back tears as she stood on an empty street lined with abandoned houses.
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she → want → houses
“And I want to see the people who left, all of them.”
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who → want → them
People left for both sides.
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People → leave → sides
Diadiuk’s life has been reduced to basic survival: rainwater to drink, firewood gathered around town for heat, a radio she tries to tune in to for news, and the remnants of humanitarian aid that had not reached her in two years until the brief ceasefire that ended Sunday night just days after it began.
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it → reduce → ceasefire
Going out means dodging every kind of weapon, including mines scattered everywhere.
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Going → go → mines
The neighbors she mentions are more often the dead than the few still living nearby.
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she → mention → few
A team from The Associated Press gained rare access to a so-called red zone to see firsthand what life in the kill zone looks like, a visit made possible only because of a brief, localized ceasefire tied to the humanitarian aid mission in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky.
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life → gain → Oleshky
Oleshky has drawn the world’s attention, but civilians are trapped in many more places on both sides of the front line.
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civilians → draw → line
During the mission, Ukrainian regional officials, police, the Ukrainian Red Cross Society and volunteers, with the facilitation of civil-military cooperation specialists, used the rare window of time to reach people on their side of the river, some of them cut off for nearly two years.
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some → use → years
In all, 180 people were evacuated from riverside communities and the city of Kherson, including 23 children, the regional administration said.
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administration → evacuate → children
About 140,000 people remain in the Ukrainian-held part of the Kherson region.
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people → remain → region
Before the war, the whole region, now nearly 70% under Russian control, had about 1 million residents.
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region → have → residents
The riverside is designated a red zone, the highest level of military danger.
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riverside → designate → danger
With the ceasefire over, residents will again face drones, artillery, glide bombs and airdropped mines.
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residents → face → drones
Still, many refuse to leave.
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many → refuse → ?
Some cannot afford to start over, and others will not abandon the places where they grew up.
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they → afford → places
Life is grim in the kill zone
On the road to Diadiuk’s village, burned-out cars sit abandoned where they were hit, alongside wrecked ground robots that Ukrainians try sending down roads too dangerous for people.
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Ukrainians → burn → people
A relic of peacetime still stands on that road: “Thank you for keeping the roadside clean.”
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relic → stand → roadside
In the village, many houses are reduced to burned walls.
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houses → reduce → walls
Glide bombs have left craters, and the tail fins of shells stick out of the asphalt like flowers.
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fins → leave → flowers
Mines dropped from drones lie everywhere, some petal-shaped, others improvised and wrapped in foil or plastic, so every step must be taken with care.
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step → drop → care
Thick vegetation swallows the ruins of empty houses.
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vegetation → swallow → houses
What Diadiuk finds hardest to bear is the howling of the dogs left behind in the houses, surviving much as she is.
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she → find → houses
“Even for the sake of these, I can’t leave them,” she says, pointing to two thin dogs that never stray far from her.
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that → leave → her
But she shares what little food she has with other dogs as well.
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she → share → dogs
Isolated and forced to fight for survival every day, she has lost track of time.
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she → isolate → time
“I turn on my phone only to see what day it is,” she says.
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she → turn → phone
She charges it with solar panels.
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She → charge → panels
Diadiuk collects rainwater, strains it through gauze, treats it with chlorine and boils it.
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Diadiuk → collect → it
“The water here is more or less all right,” she says.
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she → say → ?
“There are a lot of dead lying in the houses, so it’s good water only in a manner of speaking.
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it → be → manner
Why people stay
The village’s ordeal began in the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion, when it was occupied.
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it → stay → invasion
After Ukrainian forces liberated it, Kozatske gradually came under siege by drones as the war turned increasingly technological.
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war → liberate → drones
“Before, I’d just open the door and walk out,” said Oleksii Shavokin, 54, who lives a little farther down the street.
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who → open → street
“Now I open it a crack, stick my ear out and listen to the sky.”
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I → open → sky
His house burned down in early 2023 after a mortar attack, he said, but he patched it up and stays on there.
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he → burn → it
He lives off old humanitarian aid and eggs from the hens he still keeps.
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he → live → hens
…and 36 more, not listed.
The Aporia
