stands in front of his neighbor's house hit by Russian artillery about a week ago in the front-line village of Novovorontsovka Kherson Oblast – Volodymyr Bebekh finished watering his garden in the evening and decided to wash up in his outdoor shower a Russian rocket flew right into his neighbor’s home The 71-year-old says his life was spared thanks to his mulberry tree Bebekh says he was about to cut his “rescuer” down The village of Novovorontsovka in Ukraine’s southeastern Kherson Oblast sits right on the border with neighboring Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and lies some 15 kilometers from Ukrainian territory currently under Russian occupation. Most of Kherson Oblast has been occupied by Russia since early March Novovorontsovka is under constant shelling by Russian forces as Ukraine moves to conduct a counteroffensive to liberate Kherson Oblast and fighting intensifies Novovorontsovka’s local leadership has fled leaving the village's residents to fend for themselves often without electricity or running water thought he was used to waking up to the sounds of explosions “I hear a ‘boom.’ I raise my head and there are flames and dust everywhere One shell fragment flew above my head and landed in the wall,” Mosur said This was the third time a Russian shell had hit his home – the first and the third dug a crater right on his doorstep in late June Mosur tried in vain to patch up the hole in his roof caused by the blast Bricks and debris crashed onto the sofa where she usually took her daily nap who had been staying with her daughter in Nikopol “There is no point in trying to renovate it,” Matveeva told the Kyiv Independent over the phone who had been looking after Matveeva’s home in her absence remained in Novovorontsovka to care for his 92-year-old mother Because his mother has difficulties with vision she and Barylnyk do not shelter in their basement to wait out each strike “Every three hours we hear loud explosions Russian forces have also started to use incendiary rounds that set houses on fire This forced Liudmyla Nekhlyda to make an unimaginable decision: to separate from her children With her kids evacuated to safety in Kryvyi Rih Nekhlyda remained in Novovorontsovka with her husband to help her fellow residents they have to run to the house and hide in a corner,” she said of her children Read more: Families flee Russian occupation in southern Ukraine: ‘I thought I would never see my daughter again’ we thought we could hide behind the wall and be safe there Nekhlyda works at a local volunteer center that provides residents with groceries and building materials Her husband is doing electrical repairs across the village The electricity cuts out two to three times a day in Novovorontsovka It's difficult to restore as electricians lack equipment lost their jobs once the full-out war started because they understand that people cannot live without electricity They are residents of this village themselves so they want to help in some way,” she said residents also often have no access to drinking water and the supply of fuel has been cut “We help the best way we can as volunteers,” Nekhlyda said The residents of Novovorontsovka interviewed by the Kyiv Independent didn’t mince their words when speaking about the community’s head Marchuk has served for years as the leader of the 15,000 people Novovorontsovka community most of the villages in the community are occupied by Russian forces “I am 100% sure that he ran away and even caused damage,” said Bebekh “people are upset that he is in Kryvyi Rih while his people are here.” The Kyiv Independent met with Marchuk in Kryvyi Rih where he says he was evacuated alongside his colleagues in order to continue working effectively He says that he and his administration are working remotely helping to facilitate the evacuation of those remaining in the Russian-occupied villages of his community Marchuk says Russian troops held him captive and disrupted the evacuation “They tied my hands with tape and then wrapped my head with tape He spent the night in what he believes to have been a Russian warehouse and was released the next day While his constituents do not appear to accept this account “I successfully passed the checks with the SBU,” he said referring to Ukraine's Security Service Listen to our podcast: Did the War End? Ep. 7: Fleeing Occupation in Kherson Oblast – A Story of Separation Anna Myroniuk is the head of investigations at the Kyiv Independent Anna has run investigative projects on human rights She also investigated political and corporate misconduct and alleged wrongdoings in the Ukraine army's leadership Anna holds a Masters in Investigative Journalism from the City University of London an honoree of the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe Media & Marketing list the runner-up in the investigative reporting category of the 2022 European Press Prize and a finalist of the 2022 Ukraine's National Investigative Journalism Award and the 2020 Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award Fearing Nova Kakhovka could one day collapse Andrii Seletskyi began project on local history in 2020 the bank of the Dnipro River and looks out at the water The young mayor’s town is 60 miles (97km) north-east and upstream of the now ruined Nova Kakhovka dam and he does not know where the riverwaters will finally settle It is a prospect that would prompt many to despair even though last week’s events will bring a dramatic change in the geography and hydrology of his town he has been thinking ahead and sees opportunity amid the chaos the water has gone out over five metres; in width it is going out about 50 to 70 centimetres an hour,” the mayor says standing on the old riverbank as the falling levels leave behind a bed of silty mud and a dominating musty “It would be far worse if it was warmer,” he adds; the temperature has dropped about 10 degrees today and a rain storm sweeps in “We don’t know where the water will stop,” he begins but then he heads to the wall and the past to offer a prediction and we bought from the United States aerial photographs taken by the Luftwaffe in 1943.” These showed the topography of the region before Nova Kakhovka was completed in 1956 He started the project because he believed “there would be an emergency or explosion and the dam could be damaged” The regional governor in Kherson was completely dismissive until after the disaster “He called up and said: ‘Can you show me those plans again?’” Read moreThere is no immediate water crisis but to ensure a sustained long-term supply engineers will have to complete pumping works on two remaining usable wells before an existing reservoir runs dry – assuming the town can get the money its needs to complete the work Money has been promised by Kyiv but the project could take six months or more Complicating the picture further is the fact that the water infrastructure and Novovorontsovka remain in range of Russian guns across the river Fear is as much of a problem as the danger of enemy shelling workers trying to repair water pipes evacuated a couple of times because they thought that river gulls flying towards them were Russian drones,” Seletskyi says Soldiers walk along what was part of the Dnipro River at Novovorontsovka in Kherson Oblast Photograph: Ed Ram/The GuardianMines from the current war and even old explosives from the second world war remain a danger – specialist teams have been deployed five times so far to tackle contemporary and historic weaponry The Dnipro was scene of a vast battle in late 1943 have ghoulishly appeared on the surface of the mud left be the receding waters Silver spoons ‘from the tsarist time’ and a large were found as the waters of the Dnipro River fell Photograph: Ed Ram/The GuardianSeletskyi hopes it may be possible to create a local museum of all the objects rapidly being uncovered “We have a unique opportunity to dive into our history,” he says – and a duty to ensure that people do not steal or sell the artefacts that are revealed He picks up a pair of mud-encrusted silver spoons “from the tsarist time” and a large key that looks like it could open a pirate’s chest The optimism under the circumstances is remarkable “Of course we can rebuild,” says Seletskyi There are countries like Germany that were 90% destroyed after the war and I have this feeling of 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players of 31-year hunt disappointed Pixels Subscribers only Secrets of decades-long Golden Owl treasure hunt to be revealed Lifestyle Inside Chanel's French leather workshops Culture Subscribers only The marvelous bronzes of Angkor on display at the Musée Guimet in Paris Feature'Le Monde' reporter Florence Aubenas and photographer Chloe Sharrock traveled a short distance from Ukraine's front line into an area between Ukrainian forces and Russian troops men and women are living through the war in an apocalyptic atmosphere the Russian line follows the small road behind the hill the Ukrainians are positioned along the river This is the "gray zone." In the Kherson Oblast Moving back again to the machine-gunned bus stop it's the only remaining area of resistance preventing Moscow from proclaiming total control over this region and forcing allegiance to the Russian Federation promising tourist signs announce: "Novovorontsovka the South begins here." Novovorontsovka is the last town in the oblast under Ukrainian control the crowing of a rooster competed with the sound of gunfire well-tended vegetable gardens and beaches by the river the air was torn apart and machine gun fire hit a building "It's the strategy of chaos," explained Colonel Vitaly the Russians were shelling strategic places It's a game of roulette to scare people away." You have 89.26% of this article left to read Lecture du Monde en cours sur un autre appareil Vous pouvez lire Le Monde sur un seul appareil à la fois Ce message s’affichera sur l’autre appareil Parce qu’une autre personne (ou vous) est en train de lire Le Monde avec ce compte sur un autre appareil Vous ne pouvez lire Le Monde que sur un seul appareil à la fois (ordinateur En cliquant sur « Continuer à lire ici » et en vous assurant que vous êtes la seule personne à consulter Le Monde avec ce compte Que se passera-t-il si vous continuez à lire ici Ce dernier restera connecté avec ce compte Vous pouvez vous connecter avec votre compte sur autant d’appareils que vous le souhaitez mais en les utilisant à des moments différents Nous vous conseillons de modifier votre mot de passe Votre abonnement n’autorise pas la lecture de cet article merci de contacter notre service commercial Kyiv says smaller dam along Mokri Yaly river in Donetsk region has been blown up Ukraine has accused Russian forces of destroying another dam with the aim of slowing a counteroffensive launched by Kyiv As rescue and relief efforts entered their seventh day for victims of the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric station in Kherson region the Russian military was accused of blowing up a much smaller dam along the Mokri Yaly River which has become the most successful axis so far for Ukraine’s advances in western Donetsk Ukrainian forces have moved along both sides of the river southwards from the town of Velyka Novosilka declaring the liberation of a string of villages: Blahodatne on the east bank; and Neskuchne said three other settlements further west along the frontline – Novodarivka and Lobkove in western Zaporizhzhia – had also been taken by Ukrainian forces 1:08Ukraine claims to have recaptured Donetsk village of Storozheve in counteroffensive – videoThe armed forces have published pictures of their units holding up flags in what were claimed to be the recaptured villages The claims could not be independently verified but Russian military bloggers confirmed the Ukrainian advance and reported heavy fighting overnight and on Monday morning for the next village along straddling the road south-east towards Mariupol a Ukrainian military spokesperson for that sector of the front told the Ukrainska Pravda news agency that a dam upstream along the Mokri Yaly had been blown up by occupation forces Shershen said the Russian aim had been to “slow down Ukraine’s counteroffensive” but claimed it had failed The dam appears to have been at the village of Klyuchove but its destruction could not be independently verified celebrated the announcement of the latest village to fall thanking the marines who recaptured it and adding: “It will be the same with every settlement until we liberate all Ukrainian land.” Ukrainian officials have otherwise been tight-lipped about the counteroffensive other than to note small territorial gains around Bakhmut The villages along the Mokri Yaly River mark the first settlements to be liberated after a week of counteroffensive and Kyiv has made much of the capture of these small villages aware that Ukrainians are nervous after seeing videos of wrecked Ukrainian tanks and armoured vehicles from failed assaults farther west along the line Ukrainian military officials have privately called for patience and pointed out they had so far not committed the bulk of Kyiv’s 12 brigade-strong western-armed assault force to the battle we didn’t move our main forces yet,” a Ukrainian officer texted from the southern front “So there are grounds to believe in the best.” and that the Russians had complete control of the Kakhovka hydroelectric station at the time The Ukrainian security service has published an audio clip of what it said was two Russian soldiers talking about how a Russian sabotage unit had been responsible 1:38Ukraine claims intercepted call proves Russia blew up Kakhovka dam – audioMaliar said that in the wake of the disaster Russia was moving its forces from the left (eastern and southern) bank of the Dnipro in Kherson region to other parts of the frontline She suggested Russian forces had blown up the dam to make it much harder for Ukrainian assault troops to cross the flooded lower Dnipro and therefore shorten the front they had to defend Ukrainian authorities said the flood waters were beginning to recede at up to 5cm an hour leaving vast expanses of mud flats and dead fish a town on the Ukrainian-controlled right (northern) bank of the Dnipro across from the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station the water had receded so far that it was impossible to determine its level said that despite the disappearance of the reservoir the nuclear plant had sufficient water to keep its reactor cores and spent fuel cool and prevent a meltdown the water level in the plant’s ponds is stable and sufficient to meet the plant’s needs The situation is now under control,” Strilets said in a television interview Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is due in Ukraine this week hoping to visit the plant. Grossi said on Sunday that his experts needed to check discrepancies in measurements of water levels of the reservoir on Wednesday claimed that Russian airstrikes hit 73 military targets in Ukraine overnight who said this in his daily morning briefing said the attacks were mainly directed against tactical targets “As a result of the impact of high-precision missiles in the Novovorontsovka and Kyselivka areas up to 40 soldiers of the Ukrainian troops as well as seven armoured vehicles were destroyed,” Konashenkov said Konashenkov added that Russian missile forces and artillery also shelled 1,053 military objects Konashenkov didn’t give any details on the Russian ground offensive He also left open whether Ukrainian localities were captured could not be confirmed by independent sources The war between Russia and Ukraine began in February this year IGP orders heightened security around schools Victory Day: European leaders’ planned visit to Ukraine irks Russsia Russia concerned by India-Pakistan tensions – Kremlin Ukraine forces repel 42 drones from Russia Russia says willing to help resolve India-Pakistan differences War: I’ve had good discussions on Russia Copyright © Daily Post Media Ltd