Space Travel News
WAR REPORT
Bombing intensifies in southern Ukraine frontline town
Bombing intensifies in southern Ukraine frontline town
By Emmanuel PEUCHOT
Orikhiv, Ukraine (AFP) May 9, 2023

While having her daily lunch at a canteen in a shelter near Ukraine's southern front, Galyna Peleshko said Russian bombing has intensified in recent weeks with air strikes and artillery.

The front line lies just seven kilometres from the 71-year-old's hometown of Orikhiv -- a small settlement where only some 1,000 residents remain out of a pre-war population of 15,000.

"I didn't sleep last night," Peleshko said, as she finished up a lunch consisting of soup, meat with a side dish and compote.

"After the first explosion I jumped into the corridor and immediately after that there were two more explosions," she said.

Orikhiv is in a vast plain located around 60 kilometres (37 miles) from the city of Zaporizhzhia.

The front line here has barely moved since the start of Russia's invasion in February 2022.

The town has been under artillery fire for nearly all of that time but the aerial bombardment started more recently -- around three weeks ago.

"Now they are dropping bombs from planes. Just after you hear the sound of the plane, you hear the explosion. If you manage to hide it's good, you can stay alive, thank God," Peleshko said.

The shelter, housed in the basement of a local school, is well-organised.

Visitors can get a meal, have a shower, wash clothes, charge phones, use the wifi or just watch television in the warmth.

Some 80 percent of houses in the town have been destroyed or damaged, according to the town hall, whose building was also hit by the bombing.

The town is pockmarked with bomb craters.

"It's very sad... Sometimes I go to work in the morning and there is a house, I come back after work and the house is not there any more," said Svitlana Romashko, 54, a volunteer at the shelter.

- 'Very scary' -

Deputy mayor Svitlana Mandrych says 40 residents have been killed and 200 injured since the war began.

"We are on the front line, there is no air defence here. We see them and hear them, not just planes but also helicopters. It's very scary."

"We are hoping for a counter-offensive so there might be less bombing of our town," she said.

Ukraine has for months been preparing a spring offensive to take back territory from Russian forces.

Analysts regularly cite these southern areas as potential backdrops to that military push. A breakthrough here would allow Ukrainian forces to divide the land bridge between Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine and the Crimea peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014.

Concerned about an imminent offensive, Moscow-installed officials have announced the partial evacuation of 18 Russian-controlled areas in the Zaporizhzhia region, including Energodar where Europe's largest nuclear plant is located.

Despite the rising tensions, some contact between the two sides has continued to facilitate the exchange of prisoners and bodies.

These often occur on a bridge in Kamianske, not far from Orikhiv on the banks of the Dnipro River.

In a nearby village, Stepnogirsk, mayor Iryna Kondratyuk said she was sure the offensive was imminent and would be successful.

"We are waiting and hoping that the aggressors will be pushed back at least to the Crimea border."

Asked when she thought the offensive might start, she replied: "Soon. At least, we hope so".

Related Links
Space War News

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
WAR REPORT
Colombian ex-paramilitaries ask state for peace talks
Puerto Boyaca, Colombia (AFP) May 8, 2023
A group of far-right former paramilitaries who laid down their arms 20 years ago have called on Colombia's leftist government to reopen peace talks with them. The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) wreaked terror on the country in the 1990s as part of their bitter war against far-left guerrillas, aided at times by members of the armed forces. But under the government of right-wing former president Alvaro Uribe (2002-10), the group's 30,000 fighters disarmed and agreed to submit themsel ... read more

WAR REPORT
WAR REPORT
Check And Double Check: Sols 3821-3822

The mysterious origins of Martian meteorites

Aerovironment awarded $10M JPL to co-design and develop two helicopters for Mars Sample Return mission

Brushing Ubajnara: Sols 3819-3820

WAR REPORT
The Mystery of the Glass Substance in the Chang'e-5 Lunar Soil

The Moon's heart revealed for the first time

Czech Republic latest nation to sign on to NASA's moon-focused Artemis Accords

What will the Artemis Moon base look like?

WAR REPORT
NASA: Up to 4 of Uranus' moons could have water

New video series captures team working on NASA's Europa Clipper

Work continues to deploy Juice RIME antenna

Juice's first taste of science from space

WAR REPORT
Invading insect could transform Antarctic soils

Bacteria survive on radioactive elements

Hubble follows shadow play around planet-forming disk

Hunting for life's building blocks at minus 250 degrees Celsius

WAR REPORT
Rocket Lab successfully launches 2 NASA storm-monitoring satellites

Construction begins at UK's first vertical launch spaceport

Falcon Heavy launches massive GEO satellite for Viasat

SpaceX launches first expendable Falcon Heavy rocket

WAR REPORT
Tianzhou-5 cargo craft separates from China's space station

Final frontier is no longer alien

China to promote space science progress on five themes

China to develop satellite constellation for deep space exploration

WAR REPORT
SOHO chases asteroid's tail

Asteroid's comet-like tail is not made of dust, solar observatories reveal

What colour is an asteroid? Hyperspectral imager to find out

China to launch Tianwen 2 mission to explore asteroid

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.