Hrihoriy Pyrlik is a Ukrainian journalist and line editor for the News of Azov project.
April frosts and a lack of rain have harmed crops in Ukraine’s Kherson region this spring. Deadly drones and land mines don’t help, either. Russia’s war against Ukraine compounds the challenges facing farmers near the front lines.
"This is deportation," says the head of a Ukrainian volunteer group that helps people escape from Russian-occupied areas. He says the numbers leaving are growing.
Russia has launched a subsidized mortgage program for its citizens in occupied and Kyiv-controlled Ukrainian cities. Critics call it a political move aimed at normalizing control and pressuring Ukraine, while locals express outrage at the idea of their homes being sold.
Understaffed and undersupplied sappers have not yet cleared 1 percent of the beleaguered Kharkiv region’s estimated 12,400 square kilometers of mined territory. And as Russia increases its barrage on the region, more mines could be coming.
Russia is gathering data on Ukrainian society in occupied southern regions through “filtration centers” in apparent preparation to hold threatened “referendums” on annexing the territories.
Cold, hard cash can ease the process of "filtration" being imposed on Ukrainians in Russian-controlled territory. But Ukrainians who have made their way out have said that coffee, tea, cigarettes, and vodka are other popular requests at checkpoints along the way.
Alina Korenyuk's hometown of Popasna has been virtually destroyed since Russia launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine 100 days ago. Insult was added to injury for the displaced woman and her family when they spotted a photograph of a Russian tank carting off their possessions as war booty.
