Hundreds of motorcycles are left piled up at the outskirts of Zelenodolsk, a small the city in southern Ukraine simply 15 kilometres from the frontline.
They function a poignant image of lives interrupted as locals fled the battle.
Now, just about six months since Russia’s invasion started, combating is intensifying in southern Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered a counteroffensive to regain keep watch over of Russia-occupied spaces similar to Kherson.
In Zelenodolsk — which is in Ukrainian territory and round 130km from Kherson — artillery assaults regularly succeed in town centre. It’s compelled many to escape. Those that keep barricade their home windows with wooden to offer protection to from the fragments.
“It is tough here, we live under bombings,” said Svetlana. “They fly over our heads all the time. Unfortunately, we cannot do anything about it other than hope that the military will protect us.
“I really hope the counteroffensive will work. We cannot continue to live like this. If it doesn’t work, I don’t know what we will do.”
The 53-year-old talks to Euronews as she stands in a queue to accumulate meals from volunteers – the one means for her to live to tell the tale.
It’s a bleak reminder that the industrial have an effect on of the battle.
“I am constantly in fear. It is so scary, but we try to hold on,” she added. “So many are out of jobs. It is difficult to live to tell the tale.”
‘Economic situation very tense’
It is not only Zelenodolsk where Russia’s invasion is taking its toll: Kryvyi Rih, the regional capital, 40 kilometres north, is also feeling the effects.
Several factories have closed and the city’s largest employer, the steel plant ArcelorMittal, has had to reduce its output, prompting job losses. Before the Russian invasion, 22,000 people worked there, although it’s unclear how many have been laid off.
“The economic situation is very tense,” Oleksandr Vilkul, the top of the army management in Kryvyi Rih, advised Euronews. “95% of our exports and imports to our large industrial companies came through the Black Sea.”
Russia’s blockade of the Black Sea has meant Ukraine’s ports have ground to a halt. Limited shipments of grain are now being allowed to leave following an UN-brokered deal between Ukraine, Russia and Turkey.
The impact on the city is severe. Shops are closed, many people are out of work and the threat of Russian attacks is constant, said Vilkul.
“There are lots of terrible things that they are doing. And I can tell you when we liberate more territory, there will be several places worse than Bucha,” he added, referring to claims that Russian soldiers committed war crimes against civilians in areas north of Kyiv in February and March.
“The basis of Russia’s strategy is to strangle our economy and cut us off from the Black Sea, where our main exports go.”
‘You are just waiting for a missile to kill you’
Kryvyi Rih is also home to several refugee centres, which have been hosting increasing numbers of people after Kyiv — amid the planned counteroffensive in southern Ukraine — called on locals to flee.
Many have come from the Kherson region, which Russia has occupied since the early days of the war.
One of them is Lena, 28, who spoke to Euronews as she was looking for clothes for herself and her family after leaving almost all her belongings behind.
“We are still scared. My son is still afraid to go inside because he worries that Russia will drop a bomb on us. They did that at home,” Lena says, “It is better here. It is more stable. It is not only about surviving, but I hope to return home sometime.”
Russia is currently considering having a referendum in the Kherson region to integrate it into Russia: a similar tactic was deployed when it annexed Crimea in 2014.
This means Lena fears Ukraine will be unable to take the territory back and that she will never see her home again.
“I really try not to think about it,” stated Lena. “I like my house, and I want to return, however it’s too risky.
“Every night, when we were sleeping, the house was shaking. You are just waiting for a missile to kill you.”
‘I don’t know what we will do’
In the centre of Kryvyi Rih, captured Russian tanks and other military vehicles stand as proud symbols of Ukrainian success.
Yet some doubt whether Kyiv can retake Kherson and anyway, for many, the most pressing preoccupation is arguably the economic situation.
Vladimir, 40, is looking at one of the tanks with his family, including his 10-year-old son. He has work as a blacksmith, but, due to the war, only for two days a week.
“I earn less than half of what I used to,” he stated. “So it’s onerous. But it’s higher than others who’re utterly with out paintings. But nonetheless, we don’t have a lot cash.
“It’s not that i am positive what we will be able to do within the wintry weather if this continues. We dream that the battle will finish, however I worry that we can not retake territory. The scenario now isn’t sustainable.”
60-year-old Larysa, who’s along with her grandson, could also be anxious.
“If you ask me if I seriously think that we can retake Kherson, I will need to say that I doubt it,” says Larysa. “I hope so, but it will be hard.”
“If we can’t do that and the economic situation is like now, I don’t know what we will do.”