Life in a Ukrainian city dramatically changed by war

0:00This message comes from EasyCater, the workplace food platform. EasyCater helps organizations order food from favorite restaurants, meet dietary needs, and stay on budget. With employee meal programs, flexible payment options, and 24-7 customer support all on one platform. Learn more at easycater.com. Today on State of the World, a city in Ukraine dramatically changed by war.

0:29You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. I'm Greg Dixon. In Russia's war in Ukraine, drone technology has radically changed how the war is fought. In the more than four years since the full-scale invasion, the use of drones has evolved as defenses against attacks are innovated and then defeated. NPR's correspondent in Ukraine, Joanna Kikisis, has been looking at how the experience of residents of one frontline city has evolved as the weapons of war have. Hey, Joanna. Hey, Greg. So you went to the city of Kherson.

1:06Tell us where that is and why you went there. So Kherson is in southern Ukraine, and I've been there actually several times. It's a city I know quite well. And the first time I visited was in late 2022, not long after I had been liberated from Russian occupation. It spent several months in 2022 occupied by Russian troops. and there was a lot of joy when the Russians were pushed out, but they weren't pushed out very far away. They crossed a bridge across a river that's about a mile wide and the city of Kherson was in range of Russian artillery. So at first the residents started to see attacks like rockets, mortars.

1:50These are traditional weapons though, and they knew to some extent how to protect themselves from these. And then in 2024, something changed, something that dramatically altered life in Kherson. Well, let's listen to your story now. And just a warning, we're going to hear the sounds of explosions and gunfire. When Russian troops stormed into the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson four years ago, they came with tanks and guns. The Ukrainians grabbed their guns, too. They chopped down trees and used the wood as barricades to block Russian tanks. But Russian troops broke through. And soon Ukrainian TV news bulletins announced that Russia had occupied the city.

2:37Olga Chupikova watched it all from the roof of a nine-story building in Kherson, counting the Russian tanks crossing the bridge into her city. And she told herself, I will never accept this occupation. I will make sure we fight it. So she became a spy, and it helped that she did not look like one. With her pale blue eyes, pixie cut, and sensible sweaters, she looks more like the mom next door. She monitored Russian troop movements in the city and sent the intel to Ukraine's military. who then drove the Russian soldiers out of Kherson by the end of 2022. But the celebrations did not last long. Russian troops regrouped across the Dnipro River, less than a mile away from Kherson.

3:28They soon began hitting the city with rockets and mortars. And by 2024, Chupikova noticed something new. When the drones started coming, it became clear that survival would be a challenge. She is talking about first-person view, or FPV drones. They're small, cheap, and have live-streaming cameras that show their targets. They often carry grenades. A local politician posted this video of an FPV drone chasing somebody's van, then exploding behind it. Chupikova's son Dimitrov, a Ukrainian soldier, told her Russian troops were navigating these FPV drones from the other side of the river and using them to hunt people in Kherson.

4:17I remember my neighbor saw a drone chasing an 11-year-old boy like he was a rabbit. It dropped explosives nearby and it wounded him. With dark humor, the locals called the Russian drone hunts the human safari. The Russians decided that they would make life hell for us and see how long we would last. Over the next several months, Russian FPV drones chased down and killed several civilians, including a cancer researcher, a water delivery driver, and a businessman on a cigarette break. Chupikova never left home without a portable drone detector that her son had given her. It's about the size of an iPhone.

5:01It finds the signal that a drone emits and vibrates when it is nearby. The detector saved her life in late 2024 as she and her husband drove home from work. We saw the drone and we were able to speed away. So instead of dropping a grenade, it just crashed into our rear window. The drone did not explode, but then another one appeared. The Russians seem to be watching our route. So we turned around and drove back into the city. They drove their battered car to a friend's house and moved into a spare room. She kept driving the car to work, where she landscapes the city's parks. At the park where we met her last year, she clipped her drone detector to her bulletproof vest.

5:49It was windy and cloudy that day, bad flying weather for drones. So after work, Chupikova decided it was safe for us to drive to the cemetery. Her son Dimitro is buried there. He was killed on the front line. He was 25. The night before he died, he sent her a voice message. And he told her he was okay. Chupikova showed me her phone and her messages to Dimitro. I know it sounds insane, but I keep sending them, even though he will never read them.

6:29We passed dozens of fresh graves. A sea of blue and yellow Ukrainian flags flapped in the wind. When we reached Dimitro's tombstone, his mother gripped it and leaned on me. It was hard not to cry. Come see me. Soon, the clouds parted and the wind slowed down. Drone weather. Time to go. The threat of Russian drone hunts has transformed life in Kherson. Hospitals, schools, even playgrounds have moved to basements. Residents relocated to neighborhoods like this one, where fewer drones are flying. A busker played for tips near a cafe where Roman Vashenko and his wife Anastasia Kravitz pulled up in their Honda Rebel.

7:23Despite the constant threat of drones, they're meeting their motorcycle club here to go on a ride. We're trying to be more careful, but of course we are all a little bit at risk. Kravitz nodded at the word risk. If you take this responsibility on you that you will go there, you need to understand if you will survive or not. But when we are... like now. It's going to be bang again. Don't be afraid. Explosions in the distance. Mortars, then drones.

7:59That's normal, huh? Unfortunately, yes. The bikers hear this all the time. They saunter inside and order macho lattes. They wait for the attack to end as if it is a passing thunderstorm. And when the coast is clear, they hop on their motorcycles and ride away. Today, the bikers are still riding around Kherson, even though the city has gotten even more dangerous.

8:32There are bigger drones, like this one, in a video recorded by a local journalist. A few days ago, I check in with Olga Chupikova. She is planting oak tree saplings along a main road. She watches for drones, but she also worries about missiles and guided bombs and any new weapon the Russians could come up with. Everything that can fly and explode, we've got it all. But we've learned to live with this and adapt. Chupikova has a better drone detector now, one with a screen, and it shows her what the Russian drone operator sees. She always takes it to work, including today, as she plants the young oak trees.

9:15Four years ago, the people of Kherson chopped down trees to build barriers against Russian tanks. Now, trees are shields from Russian drones. That's why I'm Russian to plant them now, so they will grow and we can have more protection. And then the screen of her drone detector flashes. She stops planting. A drone is heading her way. That was NPR's Joanna Kikis is reporting from Harrison, Ukraine. And Joanna's with me now. That was an astounding story, Joanna, the way people were adapting to the threats against them, wearing a drone detector, watching the weather. But I have to believe that is all taking a psychological toll, feeling hunted all the time.

9:59Why are people staying? How are they doing it? so in most frontline cities including her son people stay where they are because they insist and they say this loudly every time i talk to them this is their home and if they leave it gives russians an opportunity to step in and take an empty city right and so people like olha she's not going anywhere and in addition to um the fact that she's she repeatedly says this is my city, her son is buried there. And she said to me when I just talked to her again a few days ago, she said, I'm not going to leave a city where my son is buried. My son is here and I will do everything possible to keep out the Russians.

10:41And if that means adapting to the number of drones that they send and the kinds of drones that they send, I will get a better drone detector. I will wear my bulletproof vest when I go out and work as a landscaper for the city's parks. I will do whatever it takes to stay here. What she's saying is not unusual. I've heard it in many frontline towns, but in Harrison, people are very dedicated to this idea of staying and fighting for the city. Right. Joanna, in tomorrow's episode, you're going to bring us another story from Harrison? Yes, that's right. And this one's a bit of an unusual story because it involves the former mayor of the city.

11:18And all this that you heard today, he missed all of it. and you'll find out why tomorrow. All right, well, listen for that. Joanna, thank you so much. You're welcome, Greg. That's NPR's Joanna Kikisis.

11:35That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening. This message comes from Bombas. Your feet hit the ground an average of 2 ,000 times in a mile. Bombas sports socks are designed to support you every step. Sprint to bombus.com slash NPR and use code NPR for 20 % off your first purchase. Support for NPR and the following message come from Spectrum Business with connectivity solutions to help your business stay online and on track. Reliable connections, responsive support, and tailored solutions. Spectrum.com slash business. Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. This message comes from Babbel.

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