IIt rains in buckets and the gusts freeze the streets of Rozivka. Access to this area, where there are eight localities still occupied by the Russians less than two weeks ago, is under Ukrainian army escort. The journey takes on bumpy, partially paved or gravel roads, marked with Czech-made steel “hedgehogs”. On some mud roads, vehicles loaded with luggage and towing tarpaulin trailers can barely pass each other. We are in the Kherson region, in southern Ukraine, about sixty kilometers from Kryvyi Rih, the birthplace of President Volodymyr Zelensky.
At the entrance to the village, a deserted alley is lined with cherry blossom trees. Trenches were dug at the foot of collapsed brick bus stops…
