Olga Chernyshova’s family runs a grocery store in the port city of Kherson in southern Ukraine.
It sits close to the Dnipro River, across from the front line of the all-out war that has upended life in Ukraine for nearly three years.
Since Russia launched its invasion, the family’s store has been flooded after a dam collapse and damaged by incendiary shelling. It has become increasingly hard just to get to the store safely amid ongoing wartime dangers — including hostile drones.
In a close call last month, Chernyshova was unloading her vehicle outside her home, when she heard the sound of an approaching Russian drone that dropped an explosive and struck her car.
The drone threat is well understood by Chernyshova and others living in Kherson — previously occupied by Russian forces, which are still nearby.
“Kherson is very close to the Russians, so they can get there with drones,” said Oleksiy Goncharenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker who hails from Odesa, also in southern Ukraine.
Drones have been critical for out-gunned and out-manned Ukraine as it tries to push back the Russian invasion. Ukraine has used a wide array of drones to strike targets — some close to the front lines, some far inside Russian territory.
But it has also had to defend against the drones Russia sends, which have proven lethal for soldiers and civilians alike — including in Kherson, where Chernyshova lives and works, but also in other parts of the region.
In the first week of October, Kherson Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin’s Telegram account shared news of a 69-year-old woman who died after a drone attack on a shuttle bus in Antonivka and of a 75-year-old woman and two men in their 50s also killed by drones in other parts of Kherson region.
Tymofiy Mylovanov, an economist and former Ukrainian government minister, says civilians in these areas are dealing with the drone threats in different ways.
“They hide, stay away from the areas where the drones have been noticed or leave altogether,” said Mylovanov.
For Chernyshova, her daily routine involves paying close attention to the skies above.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he would work with both Ukraine and Russia to end their war if elected, as he stood next to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before their meeting in New York. Zelenskyy said he wanted to discuss his ‘victory plan’ for Ukraine with Trump.
She told CBC News via a translator that she and her family listen for the warning signs of approaching drones and then hastily drive to their destination — including when getting to their store.
She also said she sometimes hides from drones under the cover under trees when meeting others outside.
Chernyshova has advocated for local authorities to do more to warn people about these risks — with posters and online — and to provide information about the best ways to stay safe under the circumstances.
Much of region remains occupied
Chernyshova said that “while things are really tough in Kherson, they are even tougher in occupied areas.”
Russian forces still control much of the wider region that sits atop Crimea in southern Ukraine.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) says Russian forces occupy some 19,550 square kilometres — or roughly 73 per cent — of the Kherson region.
Kateryna Stepanenko, the think-tank’s deputy Russia team leader, says the city and others nearby including Beryslav sit along a part of the front line that Russia has defensive concerns about.
“There’s a lot of fear from the Russian side… regarding the possibility of the Ukrainians crossing in that area,” she said.
The Russian forces sit close enough to these Ukrainian settlements to fly the small, first-person view (FPV) drones that are the source of the danger for many civilians.
These smaller drones are not easy for Ukraine to swat out of the air.
Ukraine has only so many resources for dealing with drones, and FPVs are a problem that can’t be solved with large-scale air-defence systems.
Stepanenko said the likely solution is for Ukraine to continue to develop new tools and technologies to down these drones.
Goncharenko, the Ukrainian lawmaker, points out that it’s “not only drones” that threaten those living in Kherson.
Before the increase in drone attacks, Kherson “was shelled with artillery, now it is ballistics or aerial bombs,” he said, noting that “Mariupol was bombed with such bombs, and Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia are now being bombed” as well.
The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has reported that more than 11,700 civilians have died in the country since the start of the Russian invasion and the end of August. More than 24,600 other civilians have been injured over that same time period.
Despite the threats Kherson residents face, Chernyshova said that people outside Ukraine should not pity the people living there.
She said she wanted others to understand that they are fighting for their freedom just by staying within the region and that they are proud of that.
Published at Thu, 11 Apr 2024 22:52:23 +0000
U.S. to send anti-missile system ‘to defend Israel’ against possible clashes with Iran
The United States said on Sunday it will send to Israel an advanced anti-missile system — and U.S. troops to operate it — in a bid to bolster the country’s air defences following missile attacks by Iran.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he was sending the system “to defend Israel.”
Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder said the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) battery would augment Israel’s integrated air defence system.
“It is part of the broader adjustments the U.S. military has made in recent months, to support the defence of Israel and protect Americans from attacks by Iran and Iranian-aligned militias,” Ryder said in a statement.
Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi warned earlier on Sunday that the U.S. was putting the lives of its troops “at risk by deploying them to operate U.S. missile systems in Israel.”
“While we have made tremendous efforts in recent days to contain an all-out war in our region, I say it clearly that we have no red lines in defending our people and interests,” Araghchi posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon have been clashing since Oct. 8, 2023, when the Lebanese militant group began firing rockets over the border in support of its ally Hamas — a Palestinian militant group that led a deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and sparked the ongoing war in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 42,000 people have been killed since Israel began its siege.
Late last month, Israel launched a ground invasion into Lebanon.
The total toll in Lebanon over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is now 2,255 killed and over 10,000 wounded, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
More than 1,400 people have been killed since mid-September. It isn’t clear how many were fighters.
Israel is widely believed to be preparing a military response to Iran’s Oct. 1 attack, when it fired roughly 180 missiles into Israel.
Israel contests UN account of tank incursion
The United Nations said on Sunday that Israeli tanks had burst through the gates of a base of its peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, the latest accusation of Israeli violations and attacks that have been denounced by Israel’s own allies.
The peacekeeping force, called the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), said two Israeli Merkava tanks destroyed the main gate of a base and forcibly entered before dawn on Sunday morning. After the tanks left, shells exploded 100 metres away, releasing smoke that blew across the base and sickened UN personnel — causing 15 to require treatment despite wearing gas masks, it said in a statement.
In its version of events, the Israeli military said militants of the Iran-backed group Hezbollah had fired anti-tank missiles at Israeli troops, wounding 25 of them. The attack was very close to a UNIFIL post, and a tank that was helping evacuate the casualties under fire then backed into the UNIFIL post.
“It is not storming a base. It is not trying to enter a base. It was a tank under heavy fire, mass casualty event, backing up to get out of harm’s way,” the military’s international spokesperson, Nadav Shoshani, told reporters.
In a statement, the military said it used a smoke screen to provide cover for the evacuation of the wounded soldiers but that its actions posed no danger to the UN peacekeeping force.
Five peacekeepers have been wounded in a series of strikes in recent days, most blamed by UNIFIL on Israeli forces.
The UN force said any deliberate attack on peacekeepers was “a grave violation of international humanitarian law and Resolution 1701” that established the mission.
Earlier on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement addressed to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres: “The time has come for you to withdraw UNIFIL from Hezbollah strongholds and from the combat zones.
“The IDF has requested this repeatedly and has met with repeated refusal, which has the effect of providing Hezbollah terrorists with human shields.”
Save the Children reported that one million people, including 350,000 children, have been uprooted from their homes because of Israeli ground raids in southern Lebanon. Fidel Saad, who works for Save the Children International in Beirut, says the organization has been supporting families with food security, mental health activities for children and other essential needs
Hezbollah, which Israel has been battling on the ground in southern Lebanon since it launched an incursion at the start of this month, denies Israel’s accusation that it uses the proximity of peacekeepers for protection.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, typically one of Israel’s most vocal supporters among Western European leaders, spoke to Netanyahu by phone on Sunday and denounced the “unacceptable” Israeli attacks, her government said.
Netanyahu said he told Meloni that he regretted “any harm done to UNIFIL personnel” in Lebanon.
Two Indonesian peacekeepers were injured on Friday after two explosions near a watchtower in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL said. This followed two earlier injuries of peacekeepers after Israeli soldiers fired on UN positions on Wednesday and Thursday. France, Italy and UN Secretary General António Guterres have condemned the attacks. The Israeli military said it is conducting a review of the incident.
“Israel will make every effort to prevent UNIFIL casualties and will do what it takes to win the war,” he said on X.
Italy has more than 1,000 troops in the 10,000-strong UNIFIL force, making it one of the biggest contributors of personnel. France and Spain, which each have nearly 700 soldiers in the force, have also condemned the Israeli attacks.
The presence of UNIFIL puts peacekeepers from 50 separate countries in harm’s way, in a force initially set up in southern Lebanon in 1978.
The area has seen decades of conflict, with Israel invading in 1982, occupying southern Lebanon until 2000 and again fighting a major five-week war against Hezbollah in 2006, which ended with a ceasefire monitored by UNIFIL.
Israel widens push into north Gaza
Israeli forces on Sunday widened their raid into northern Gaza, and tanks reached the north edge of Gaza City, pounding some districts of the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood and forcing many families to leave their homes, residents said.
Residents said Israeli forces had effectively isolated Beit Hanoun, Jabalia and Beit Lahiya, in the far north of the enclave, from Gaza City, blocking access between the two areas except upon permission for families willing to heed evacuation orders and leave the three towns.
While the main assault is on the north, Israel is also striking other areas across the Gaza Strip. The Health Ministry reported at least 34 people killed so far on Sunday.
UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq says the main crossings into northern Gaza have been closed and no food or other essential supplies have entered since Oct. 1. More than 400,000 people who remain in the north are under increasing pressure to move south, he said.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Sunday that forces operating throughout Gazain the past 24 hours had attacked about 40 targets and killed dozens of militants.
The armed wings of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other smaller factions said their fighters attacked Israeli forces in Jabalia and nearby areas with anti-tank rockets and mortar fire.
Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas in Gaza. They have also voiced concerns over severe shortages of food, fuel and medical supplies in northern Gaza, and said there is a risk of famine there.
Hezbollah strike kills 4 soldiers in central Israel
Israel’s military says four soldiers were killed in a Hezbollah drone attack on an army base next to the town of Binyamina.
A military statement said the strike Sunday evening also severely injured seven soldiers.
It’s the deadliest Hezbollah strike since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon nearly two weeks ago.
The group earlier claimed responsibility and called the attack retaliation for Israeli strikes on Beirut on Thursday that killed 22 people.
Israel’s advanced air-defence systems mean that it’s rare for so many people to be hurt by drones or missiles.
It was the second time in two days that a drone has hit inside Israel. On Saturday, during the Israeli holiday of Yom Kippur, a drone struck in a suburb of Tel Aviv, causing damage but no injuries.
Published at Sun, 13 Oct 2024 18:46:00 +0000
