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That is one in an occasional sequence of dispatches about life amid the conflict in Ukraine.
PREOBRAZHENKA, Ukraine — This small village in southeastern Ukraine appears serene at first look, a typical Ukrainian village with considerable fields and lovingly tended yards. However it has not been spared by the conflict.
“Within the evening it’s silent, so we hear distant sounds of shelling,” mentioned one resident, Tamara, 59, who requested to be recognized solely by her first title to keep away from undesirable consideration. “In the course of the day, we’re planting as many greens as potential — no person is aware of what winter will carry.”
When Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February of final yr, she and the three granddaughters she is elevating moved to her residence’s cellar, as a result of it was “loud and scary outdoors.” However inside days, they realized that it was unattainable to stay there within the dank chilly.
“Many villagers left when it began, however finally most of them returned,” Tamara mentioned on a current afternoon. “Right here we have now a home, backyard, and our personal greens, however what’s going to you do removed from right here with out cash and residential? So we stayed.”
Days later, shelling left three individuals in Preobrazhenka with important wounds, based on the native authorities.
However it was quiet as Tamara spoke. Her granddaughters have been serving to within the backyard and enjoying with their little canine, Javeline. They have been nicely conscious that the village had already had two funerals for troopers killed combating the invaders, and a 3rd was coming. “We’re undecided if we’ll go to the funeral tomorrow, however you’ll know the place will probably be, everyone will likely be there,” mentioned the youngest, Yana, 9.
One other villager who requested to be recognized solely by his first title, Yurii, 69, was joking and laughing till he began to speak about his household. Considered one of his sons is on the entrance line.
On the day of the third funeral, the village was crowded from the early morning on. Individuals lined up alongside the primary road, holding flowers and flags, ready for the funeral procession so they might say farewell to Ruslan Serenkov, 37, a machine gunner who died on June 5 throughout a fight mission close to Bakhmut.
His widow, Nadiia Serenkova, 34, is now confronted with elevating their two kids, Sophia, 8, and Illia, 12.
“I can’t discuss him now,” she mentioned of her husband. “I simply can’t think about my life with out him.”
Misfortune was no stranger to the Serenkov household. His mom, Asiia, 81, is from Kazakhstan, and his father, Petro, 72, is from Belarus. After the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe in 1986 despatched radioactivity into Belarus, they fled their residence there within the metropolis of Homel, beginning a brand new life in Preobrazhenka.
Asiia Serenkov mentioned that her son favored the military. Shortly earlier than his dying, she mentioned, he informed her: “Mother, you possibly can’t think about what number of good individuals are there. I ought to have gone to the military a lot earlier.”
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