Ukraine: Nikopol residents talk of life on the front line
October 12, 2024
"Here was the reservoir and there was our beach" said 30-year-old Vladyslav, pointing through the car window to an overgrown landscape of grass and young trees. Europe's largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia, can be seen in the distance.
Nikopol used to be located on the banks of the Kakhovka Reservoir, of which there is little left today. An explosion in June 2023 destroyed the dam wall and hydroelectric power plant. Huge volumes of water flowed down the Dnipro River and flooded entire villages.
The Russian army occupied the southern parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in spring 2022, in the wake of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Not only did it take control of the hydroelectric power plant, but also of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant near the city of Enerhodar.
Ever since, the Russian army has been just 5 kilometers from Nikopol, which has been the target of artillery and drone attacks.
'It's nice to give people electricity again'
Nikopol's mayor, Oleksandr Sayuk, told DW that the population of the city of 100,000 had now halved in size. Vladyslav decided to stay despite the constant attacks; he works for the energy company DTEK.
DW traveled with him and his colleagues to the most dangerous part of the city, right on the banks of the former reservoir. Russian shelling had damaged the power lines, and the residents of several streets were without electricity.
Vladislav told DW that one attack was often followed by another, which is why the technicians could not always carry out repairs immediately.
"We've had to flee from drones several times," he and his colleagues explained. Suddenly the air raid siren sounded again. Only the basements of residential buildings can offer protection. "We're like on a platter here," said a 27-year-old technician named Maksym.
Before going back to work, the men waited behind a fence riddled with holes from shell fragments until the all-clear was given. "It's nice to give people electricity again," said Maksym: "As long as these people still live here, I'll keep coming back."
'As you can see, we're still alive'
Suddenly an older woman called Yelena appeared in a deserted street. She went into the yard behind her burnt-down house to feed her dogs. Her house was destroyed while she was at work at the factory. She said that she had constantly had to seek shelter from drone attacks and since she could not bear that she moved in with her sister, who lives further away from the banks of the Dnipro.
"You have to feed the dogs quickly and then leave," Vladyslav told her. "Yes, I know," she replied calmly.
While the technicians were repairing the power lines, two pensioners — Faina and Lyudmila — came out of their houses. They were possibly the last people living in this street.
"As you can see, we're still alive," Lyudmila said in response to DW's question about the shelling, "but one cat was killed." The two women had the keys of their neighbors whose pets they continued to feed.
Lyudmila's house was also damaged by an attack but she said she does not want to move. She had planted flowers in front of her house.
"Why shouldn't I? It's my own land," she said, adding that she used to lead a good life here.
'If you go to work, you don't know whether you'll come back'
There are also very few people in the center of Nikopol, but there are buses in the empty streets.
"Life is hard," said Mayor Sayuk, "but somehow it goes on for the people here." He added that local businesses continued to operate even if they are not as busy as they once were.
"If you go to work today, you do not know whether you'll come back," said the mayor, explaining that 60 civilians had been killed by Russian shelling and more than 400 injured.
Nikopol used to be one of the most industrial cities in Ukraine.
DW met Mykhailo at a cafe in the city center. The 36-year-old signed up for military service right after Russia's full-scale invasion. "I thought about what would happen if the Russians occupied Ukraine. What would my life be like? I did not want to have to take their orders."
He has started working in a factory since his return to Nikopol at the beginning of the year: "I saw many destroyed houses. The cemetery has grown in size. Hardly anyone has stayed here," he said.
He said that his father had also come with him when he signed up. They both joined the same infantry brigade, with Mykhailo commanding an artillery battery and his father serving as a driver.
"It was hard to watch the enemy artillery fire on my father's unit. I smoked a whole pack of cigarettes in just one hour," he recalled.
His father left the army at the beginning of 2023 after being wounded in the chest by a shell fragment.
A year later, Mykhailo also had to leave the army due to health problems resulting from an injury. These days, he looks after his 57-year-old father. "I still have a feeling that I didn't finish the job," he said, explaining that he had struggled to readjust to civilian life and had been in therapy.
'Work is my salvation'
Liliya Shemet also decided to stay in the city and still works in a factory. The 49-year-old explained that she was alone, and work was her "salvation" stayed in the city and continues to work in a factory. She lives in a suburb of Nikopol with her cats and dogs.
She once had a large family, she explained. But her older daughters fled with their own children and then her younger children were brought to safety in a home with the help of her employer. Her husband was killed while helping to repair houses that had been destroyed. And then one of her dogs was killed when a grenade hit her garden and damaged her house.
"At first I wanted to resign and leave," she said but then she found some comfort in her work. She said that she had even learned how to drive a truck, and this helped her to "brood less."
She said that she visited her children at the weekend and called them during the week to ensure they had done their homework.
"Their childhood is not what it was before the war. They already think like adults," she said. They experienced the first shelling of the neighborhood and always ask if there have been more explosions, she said. "What can I tell them? They read the news themselves."
Russian army on the 'hunt'
Recently, the Russian army has been shelling Nikopol and its suburbs in broad daylight, locals say.
"More than 10 times a day," said Ihor Tkachuk, a firefighter. He was in front of a burning building, where two stories had collapsed. He and his men had spent two days trying to extinguish the fire.
The firefighters are also often the targets of Russian attacks. One has been killed, four have been injured and nine fire trucks have been destroyed. Tkachuk said that the Russian army was on "a hunt for rescue workers."
This article was originally written in Russian.