Ukrainians brave return to former frontline village after Russian retreat

After Russian forces invaded in the middle of last year, Posad-Pokrovske's villagers fled, joining their compatriots in a mass westward exodus from the southern Ukrainian province Kherson.

Since the recapture of the province capital and the surrounding territory by Ukraine's army, the soldiers have slowly returned to their homes, which were either destroyed or reduced to rubble from Russian shells. They are now set in a landscape with shattered trees and downed telephone poles as well as spent munitions.

"Some people come and repair their house, then they leave." Liudmyla Hupalo, a 31-year-old returningee, said that those who still have something to save will save it.

In late February and early March Russian forces took control over Kherson city and its surrounding areas. Posad-Pokrovske, which had a prewar population exceeding 3,000, ended up on the front line of the war.

Hupalo estimates that so far, 170 to 180 people have returned.

She said that "the ones who have nothing to save or have no place to stay, they don’t come back".

"My parents' house has been completely destroyed. Although there is some roof that is visible above my house it is still quite scary."

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Vasyk Oliinyk, a local farmer, fired up one of the consignments of wood stoves brought in to help villagers with the bitter cold.

He later remembered, standing next to the charred remains his tractor that he had blown up during occupation.

"They (the Russians), shot it with cluster munitions... I don't know what to do or where to start. Everything is gone, as you can see. It's hard to imagine how you would manage land without any equipment."

Oksana's stove is progress of some sort for him, but a return to normality is still a distant possibility.

It could be used to make porridge and other food. She said that one could heat water on it but that there isn't water.

Liudmyla's father Oleksandr inspects the uninhabitable ruin of his property.

"The girls used put make-up on here. He said that the wife loved to sit in her bedroom. People used to say that we had a small house. We were happy with it."

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