As Ukraine crumbles, life gets worse in occupied areas

Those fleeing speak of growing dangers from shelling and Russian forces commandeering homes and taking shelter among civilians.

SOUTHERN UKRAINE - Some fled on foot, scaling a destroyed bridge as fighting engulfed their village. Others traveled in car convoys through Russian military checkpoints. What these families left behind, they said in interviews during their journey to safety, was an escalation of danger and hardship in and around the Russian-occupied region of Kherson, where a crucial showdown of the war looms.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Tension was visible on the strained faces of the passengers as half a dozen cars pulled up in the late afternoon. noon at a checkpoint near the Ukrainian town of Zaporizhzhia last week. “Glory to Ukraine,” a woman shouted as she hugged a soldier. "I saw the Ukrainian flag and started crying," said another woman, Anna. Her 7-year-old son stared silently out the car window.

With Russia tightening border controls, the number of families leaving Russian-occupied territory across southern Ukraine and crossing into an area under Ukrainian control has dwindled to a trickle - around 20 a day on average, down from around 100 earlier in the year.

ImageA woman shouted "Glory to Ukraine" and hugged a Ukrainian soldier at a checkpoint near Zaporizhzhia after crossing Russian-occupied territory.Credit...Ivor Prickett for The New York Times

Some of those who made it through last week were bringing passengers in need of medical care, but most were families who said they were out of breath as Ukrainian forces press counter-offensive and Russian soldiers requisitioned civilian houses to escape precise and deadly bombardments.

"We had no more strength", said said a man, Vadym, wrinkling his face to keep from crying. He had traveled with his wife and mother-in-law from the town of Vasylivka, just across the front line, with some belongings in plastic bags and their ginger cat in a pet basket.< /p>

They left because there was no heat, gas, phone service or internet, said his wife, Iryna. The straw that broke the camel's back was when Russian troops began to occupy the apartment complex where her mother lived.

"She was the only remaining resident in the five-story building and they started moving in," Iryna said. Like almost everyone fleeing the war zone, they asked that their surname not be published for their safety.

< figure class="img-sz-large css-1k0qu5r e1g7ppur0" aria-label="media" role="group"> ImageDisplaced people from the Russian-occupied town of Enerhodar received food aid at a humanitarian center in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, last week.Credit...Ivor Prickett for The New York Times

Another group of families said they decided to leave their village of Chervonoblahodatne , east of the Kherson region, when Chechen members of the Russian National Guard occupied it for a week earlier.

"They moved into empty houses," said Lyudmyla, 40. Troops set up checkpoints and began searching residents, and shooting and shelling began, she said. "You couldn't get out because of the shooting."

Russian troops increasingly sought refuge in residential areas and private homes across the region as well that in ...

As Ukraine crumbles, life gets worse in occupied areas

Those fleeing speak of growing dangers from shelling and Russian forces commandeering homes and taking shelter among civilians.

SOUTHERN UKRAINE - Some fled on foot, scaling a destroyed bridge as fighting engulfed their village. Others traveled in car convoys through Russian military checkpoints. What these families left behind, they said in interviews during their journey to safety, was an escalation of danger and hardship in and around the Russian-occupied region of Kherson, where a crucial showdown of the war looms.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Tension was visible on the strained faces of the passengers as half a dozen cars pulled up in the late afternoon. noon at a checkpoint near the Ukrainian town of Zaporizhzhia last week. “Glory to Ukraine,” a woman shouted as she hugged a soldier. "I saw the Ukrainian flag and started crying," said another woman, Anna. Her 7-year-old son stared silently out the car window.

With Russia tightening border controls, the number of families leaving Russian-occupied territory across southern Ukraine and crossing into an area under Ukrainian control has dwindled to a trickle - around 20 a day on average, down from around 100 earlier in the year.

ImageA woman shouted "Glory to Ukraine" and hugged a Ukrainian soldier at a checkpoint near Zaporizhzhia after crossing Russian-occupied territory.Credit...Ivor Prickett for The New York Times

Some of those who made it through last week were bringing passengers in need of medical care, but most were families who said they were out of breath as Ukrainian forces press counter-offensive and Russian soldiers requisitioned civilian houses to escape precise and deadly bombardments.

"We had no more strength", said said a man, Vadym, wrinkling his face to keep from crying. He had traveled with his wife and mother-in-law from the town of Vasylivka, just across the front line, with some belongings in plastic bags and their ginger cat in a pet basket.< /p>

They left because there was no heat, gas, phone service or internet, said his wife, Iryna. The straw that broke the camel's back was when Russian troops began to occupy the apartment complex where her mother lived.

"She was the only remaining resident in the five-story building and they started moving in," Iryna said. Like almost everyone fleeing the war zone, they asked that their surname not be published for their safety.

< figure class="img-sz-large css-1k0qu5r e1g7ppur0" aria-label="media" role="group"> ImageDisplaced people from the Russian-occupied town of Enerhodar received food aid at a humanitarian center in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, last week.Credit...Ivor Prickett for The New York Times

Another group of families said they decided to leave their village of Chervonoblahodatne , east of the Kherson region, when Chechen members of the Russian National Guard occupied it for a week earlier.

"They moved into empty houses," said Lyudmyla, 40. Troops set up checkpoints and began searching residents, and shooting and shelling began, she said. "You couldn't get out because of the shooting."

Russian troops increasingly sought refuge in residential areas and private homes across the region as well that in ...

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