{"id":17692,"date":"2026-02-01T06:55:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T06:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=17692"},"modified":"2026-02-01T06:55:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T06:55:36","slug":"its-not-just-about-surviving-the-ukrainian-frontline-city-where-life-goes-on-under-cover-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=17692","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s not just about surviving\u2019: the Ukrainian frontline city where life goes on under cover | Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Galyna Lutsenko, a crisis psychologist, is moving busily among a small group of children seated around a table in a basement in Kherson, unique in being Ukraine\u2019s only leading city almost directly on the frontline with Russian forces \u2013 and one where people live with the daily threat of attack.<\/p>\n

She dangles a plasticine butterfly on a thread over a playhouse on the table. Her own house in the city, she says, was hit by Russian shelling in 2024, injuring her in the leg and stomach.<\/p>\n

This basement is a safe space in a dangerous city. Used as a shelter by local people, other rooms in the complex are hosting yoga, a dance rehearsal and a craft session for a group of older women screen-printing T-shirts bearing the city\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

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A woman engages with five young children sitting around a large table in a windowless room playing with coloured modelling clay<\/a>
<\/svg><\/span>Galyna Lutsenko, a crisis psychologist, uses art as a form of therapy with the children in an underground shelter used as a community centre in Kherson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The streets above ground explain this subterranean activity. Supermarket and shop windows in this city on the right bank of the Dnipro River are boarded against shrapnel, while other buildings show damage caused by artillery and glide bombs.<\/p>\n

Long stretches of the city\u2019s streets are being draped in anti-drone nets, including the main approach from the coast \u2013 a 20-minute drive away \u2013 that is now a net tunnel on three sides.<\/p>\n

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Map of Kherson and Dnipro River showing territory held by Russian forces on left bank and their advances<\/a><\/figure>\n

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With Russian forces just across the river, daily life is lived under cover for the 60,000 residents \u2013 including 5,000 children \u2013 who remain, out of its original 300,000 inhabitants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe children are always under pressure,\u201d Lutsenko says. \u201cThey are always stressed, with some of the children afraid to come out after the shelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

She gives a plasticine turtle to one of the children and asks whether he would like to put it in the house. \u201cIt is important to give them choices to make them feel that it is not just about surviving,\u201d she says. \u201cBut living and feeling everything around them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A dance class takes place in an underground centre in Kherson.<\/a>
<\/svg><\/span>A dance class takes place in an underground centre in Kherson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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And Kherson is a hard place to live. Overrun by Russian forces at the beginning of the war in 2022, it was the only regional capital of Ukraine to be occupied. Nine months later it was liberated as Russian forces retreated<\/a> across the Dnipro after a lightning offensive by Ukraine.<\/p>\n

But if people in the city thought the nightmare was over, they were mistaken. Dug in on the far side of the river, Russia launched an escalating number of attacks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The infamous Russian \u201cdrone safari\u201d beginning in May 2024<\/a>, which pursued and killed Kherson\u2019s citizens, took place in its streets \u2013 which explains the 62 miles (100km) of anti-drone nets installed by the authorities.<\/p>\n

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Anti-drone nets are installed in Kherson <\/a>
<\/svg><\/span>Anti-drone nets being installed in Kherson. The plan is to have 300km of them installed by the end of the year<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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While that has been effective against small exploding drones and drone bombers, the Russians are dropping mines<\/a> from drones or scattering them by rockets. The boom of artillery and sound of drones is a daily occurrence. The \u201cred zone<\/a>\u201d \u2013 a 1km-deep strip along the Dnipro waterfront facing the Russian positions \u2013 is the most dangerous area in the city.<\/p>\n

Authorities have moved key locations underground, not just in the city but in the wider region. While it is too dangerous for children to come to school in the city regularly, outside the built-up area schools have relocated below ground.<\/p>\n