Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine – There are only eight people left in Volodymyr’s village. That was the last count he remembers before deciding to leave. The villages south of Zaporizhzhia have been coming under escalating Russian attacks.
On November 2, in one of this year’s deadliest attacks in Ukraine, nine Russian glide bombs struck the town of Komyshuvakha, killing at least 50 people. Many had gathered to receive humanitarian aid at a local school. Several people are still missing, feared dead under the rubble.
The constant threat of bombs and drones makes everyday life almost unbearable. Over the past three years, this war has proven that an army no longer needs boots on the ground. The arrival of Russian First-Person-View (FPV) drones overhead is often a sign of the Russian infantry’s gradual advance.
Well-documented footage shows these drones deliberately targeting vehicles and civilians on the streets. Ukrainians say drones have stalked civilians in cities including Kherson, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. Now, Zaporizhzhia is showing some of the same warning signs.
The city administration is doing what it can to protect residents, installing anti-drone netting over streets and civilian infrastructure in the Cosmos neighbourhood. But boarded-up windows and bombed-out buildings across the city show how difficult it is to mitigate the threat once the drones arrive. Denys Knysh, a regional military administration official, says authorities are preparing to relocate the shelter where Volodymyr is staying to another neighbourhood “if the situation gets worse”.
Many in the shelter are elderly or have limited mobility. Some lack the documents they need to relocate, making evacuation more difficult. Others prefer to stay in Zaporizhzhia, close to their former homes, holding on to hope that the war will end and they can return.
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