KRAMATORSK UKRAINE – Piano music wafted from an apartment block on a recent spring evening in Kramatorsk blending with distant artillery fire for a su
Piano music wafted from an apartment block on a recent spring evening in Kramatorsk, blending with distant artillery fire for a surreal soundtrack to a bomb-scarred neighborhood in the eastern Ukrainian city. Everywhere in Ukraine, the 3-month-old war never seems to be far away. Those in towns and villages near the front lines hide in basements from constant shelling, struggling to survive with no electricity or gas – and often no running water. But even in regions out of the range of the heavy guns, frequent air raid sirens wail as a constant reminder that a Russian missile can strike at any time – even for those walking their dogs, riding their bicycles and taking their children to parks in cities like Kyiv, Odesa and Lviv. Curfews, checkpoints and fortifications are commonplace. So are fresh cemeteries, uprooted villagers and war-scarred landscapes, as Moscow intensifies its attacks in eastern and southern Ukraine.
‘City residents are trying to return to regular life, but with every step, they stumble upon either a crater or a ruined house or a grave in the yard’, said Andriy Pustovoi, speaking by phone to The Associated Press from the northern city of Chernihiv. ‘No one is cooking food over a bonfire or drinking water from a river anymore, but there’s a long way to go to a normal life.’
Chernihiv was in the way of Russian forces as they advanced toward Kyiv early in the war. It was heavily bombarded, and Mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko said about half of its buildings were damaged or destroyed. At least 700 residents were killed, and part of a city park now holds a cemetery, where some of them are buried. Its streets are mostly empty now, half of the shops have not reopened and public transportation is not working properly, said Pustovoi, a 37-year-old engineer. Rail service to Kyiv was only restored this month, but people who fled are in no rush to return.
‘The scariest thing is that neighboring Russia and Belarus are not going away from Chernihiv, which means that some of the residents that left when the war started may not come back’, Atroshenko said sadly. Few people are seen on the streets of Kramatorsk, where storefront windows are boarded up or protected by sandbags, and it’s no wonder. A cat sits on a car in a public park in Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, May 24, 2022. The eastern city has been hit several times, with the deadliest attack April 8, when a missile struck near its train station where about 4,000 people had gathered to be evacuated before fighting intensified.
