Names like in "Game of Thrones", the situation is like in a disaster movie

A month after the explosion of the Kakhovskaya HPP, the landscape of the Kherson Region has changed noticeably, but the fate of the people has also changed significantly. What is happening there?

photo: Ruslan Strilets

A month has passed since the Russians blew up the Kakhovskaya HPP. The ancient Ukrainian cities of Oleshky, Gola Prystan, and Kakhovka have almost disappeared, along with dozens of villages. We still have no idea about the number of dead because of this crime committed by Russians. This article is based on the testimonies of volunteers who help Ukrainians from flooded regions to survive. Therefore, there will be no links to the name and organization. People work in the occupied territories and prefer to remain anonymous, because the Russian state has removed itself from rescuing Ukrainians, and volunteers are doing it. The biggest problem is that even Ukrainians with Russian passports are not allowed in the flooded areas.

The victims of the Russian crime must get out of the destroyed towns and villages themselves and get to Skadovsk or the Iron Port.

Iron Port, Naked Harbor - to an unaccustomed ear, these names sound like fictional toponyms from the fantasy series "Game of Thrones". However, neither Ironborn nor Dothraki leave there. In the second year of the Russian occupation, pensioners and people with disabilities who could not physically leave the occupied Kherson Oblast lived here.

From the Iron Port and Skadovsk, people are taken to Simferopol. Crimea is the biggest problem in the work of volunteers. Crimean Tatar activists are under the constant surveillance of Russian special services, and the rest of the locals do not dare to help Ukrainians. Few people are willing to work with refugees on the occupied peninsula. Volunteers only have a day to take people further to Russia, because only a few hostels work with volunteers, and buses from the Kherson region arrive every day.

Ukrainians mostly go to Rostov-on-Don or Voronezh. There is still a volunteer movement in Russia and people are sometimes placed in houses or hostels, but no one guarantees a roof over their heads or money.

More than 90% of those deported from the Kherson region do not prefer to stay in the occupying country. In a month, the number of applications for departure to Europe tripled.

Previously, Ukrainians without foreign passports or expired documents could get to Poland, but this way almost does not work.

Since July 1, it has become difficult for Ukrainians to travel through Russia to Europe, because the rules for transporting pets have changed. Volunteers say that every tenth Ukrainian family takes a pet with them. Previously, when crossing the European border by land, it was enough to chip the animal and have proof of vaccination against rabies. Mobile veterinary stations operated at the borders, where animals were instantly vaccinated and microchipped. From now on, all European countries require vaccination, after which the titer must be determined thirty days later. And you can cross the border only 90 days after the titer results. This means that from now on Ukrainians with animals will be stuck in Russia for almost 4 months.