Resistance and Destruction in Mykolaiv Region

Anastasia Rokytna

War correspondent

Wednesday, 12 October, 2022

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The signs of shelling are everywhere as we enter Bashtanka. The roads of the town in the southern region of Mykolaiv are dotted with large craters left by Russian bombs. Houses are destroyed, the facade of many buildings blackened, their roofs collapsed.

Residents say that the savage bombardment was Russia’s revenge for the fierce resistance with which the locals met their attempted invasion.

On March 1, convoys with dozens of tanks rolled in to Bashtanka, a town of 12,000 people. The Russian army wanted to set up a base in the town, which is strategically located between Mykolaiv and Kryvyi Rih, birthplace of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Local resident Anton told IWPR that three military columns entered from Snigurivka, north of occupied Kherson, with an estimated 300 units of equipment including off-road vehicles and missile launchers.

“But they did not expect such resistance,” he continued. “People grabbed everything they could: Molotov cocktails, guns, some women even came out with pitchforks. They didn't try to enter with tanks again, but they took revenge, fired heavily.”

“To hell with tanks, we’re from Bashtanka!” became a rallying cry in the town, which already has a history of insurrection. In 1919 Russian White Guards occupied the town: a rebel committee led what became known as the Bashtanka Uprising, which pushed the Russians out of the town and established the Bashtank Republic. It was dismantled two months later, but locals retain their defiant spirit.

They also remain wary. As we photograph some buildings, a woman approaches and asks what we are doing; a soldier demands to see our documents.

Residents have organised to provide support for others affected by the war. Vitaly is among those providing assistance, coordinating a local centre for displaced people. Thousands have passed through the centre in several waves of evacuations. At first, there were the town’s residents themselves, then people from the surrounding villages and finally those fleeing from the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions.

“People have lost everything there,” he told IWPR. “Family, houses, belongings. That's why they turned to us. We helped as much as we could. Some remained with us. They help with the household. They simply have nowhere to go.”

Pensioners Ivan and Svitlana are two of the people currently seeking refuge in the centre.  They were at home in the Mykolaiv region city of Snihurivka, drinking tea, when a mortar hit their apartment.

“I went outside, and half the building was gone,” Ivan explained. “We hastily packed our things and got on the evacuation bus.”

Snihurivka has been under occupation since March 19. It is a critical transportation hub with both railroad line and highway roads, and one of them directly connects it to the strategic port city of Kherson, which is also occupied. 

Ukrainian intelligence reported that Russian soldiers from Buryatia, a mountainous Russian republic in eastern Siberia, have moved their families to the town, where they have taken over farms left behind by locals. On October 5, Vitaliy Kim, head of the Mykolaiv regional state administration, stated that Russian officers have abandoned Snihurivka, a sign that Ukraine’s counter-offensive is threatening Russian troops’ grip on the town.

We leave Bashtanka and we head east, to the village of Berezneguvate, where tensions are also running high. After a few days of quiet, explosions can once again be heard.  

The shelling here mostly happens at night. On July 13, Russians hit the local hospital, leaving heavy damage although there were no casualties. In mid-September, Berezneguvate was reportedly hit with banned cluster munitions.

We try to speak to locals, and ask how they are doing. One family literally pushes us away from their front door.  “You are exposing us to danger, leave!” we are told.

Further south in Mykolaiv, the city is a shadow of its former self.

A key shipbuilding centre, it was the final barrier between the port city of Kherson, which the Russians seized on March 2, and the road to Odesa, which effectively controls the Black Sea.

The Ukrainian counter-offensive has regained swathes of territory, but about half the population of Mykolaiv is estimated to have fled following heavy bombardments in June and July. Many of the 230,000 who remain are elderly and unable to leave.

When shelling pauses, an eerie silence takes over. Roads in and out are manned by one checkpoint after another.

As we sat with the soldiers in the evening, a man approached them and asked what they wanted for breakfast. They smiled. For Ukrainian soldiers, that gesture seems more nourishing than food.