Residents of the Ukrainian city of Kherson, a frontline city, have more reason than most to want an end to the three-year war with Russia. But the experience of occupation and relentless attacks since Russian forces were pushed back have made them wary of peace talks, Reuters reports.
Serhiy, 64, lies in hospital with a bandaged stump for a foot. He told Reuters he was on his way to work as a night watchman when he was hit by a shell fired from a drone operated by Russian forces on the other side of the Dnieper River.
“There will be no peace while they are on that bank of the river,” he said, declining to reveal his last name and asking that his face not be shown for fear of being identified by Russian forces.
"It will be constant terror, constant shelling. We have to drive them out of there, there is no other way."
US and Russian negotiators met in Saudi Arabia yesterday to try to reach an agreement on a proposed 30-day suspension of attacks by Kiev and Moscow on each other's energy infrastructure, as well as to take a step towards a broader ceasefire.
Kherson once had a population of nearly 300.000, but today only about 60.000 remain. From March to November 2022, Russian occupation forces arrested and tortured many people, according to locals. The Russians, who deny allegations of abusing civilians, were forced to withdraw after a Ukrainian counteroffensive. They are now shelling the city from across the river.
While most of the war's fighting is taking place in villages and smaller provincial towns, Kherson is the largest city within range of Russian artillery and combat drones - which has earned it the status of the most dangerous city in Ukraine, writes Reuters.
In his hospital room - the staff asked that the location not be disclosed due to the risk of further Russian attacks - Serhiy recalls the moment he spotted the drone that hit him.
"I jumped towards the tree, but it ripped my foot off, ripped everything off," he said.
On the other bed in the room lies Igor, a bearded thirty-year-old. He too was hit by a drone shell, he said, as he walked down the street trying to get a cell phone signal, as Russian attacks had damaged the base stations.
He too hopes the ceasefire will work. "I don't want other people to end up in hospital like me," he told Reuters, pointing to his leg, whose broken bones are held in place by metal rods.
"We believe that Trump will end the war this year, as he promised, and that we will have peace," said Igor, who also did not want to reveal his last name.
According to Oleksandr Prokudin, the governor of the Kherson region, the city is experiencing between 600 and 700 drone attacks per week.
“They are terrorizing the population,” he said of Russian drone operators on the other side of the river. He claims that they regularly spot civilians going about their daily business through drone cameras and then attack them. Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians in this conflict.
Due to the threat from Russian drones, Maksim Dyak, a 38-year-old bus driver in Kherson, sits behind the wheel wearing a bulletproof vest and a helmet.
He said the vehicle he was driving was hit by drone shells ten times; five times he was behind the wheel. The bus's shattered side window is covered with plywood, but he continues to drive even when drones can be heard overhead.
“It's very scary, especially when you have small children on the bus,” he said.
The territory of the hospital where the two wounded are being treated has been hit 21 times since November 2022, chief physician Viktor Korolenko told Reuters.
“You know, I really want all this to end… our doctors are mentally burning out under the bombing,” Korolenko said, adding that many staff members had to move to the hospital because their homes were destroyed, but that he planned to stay in Kherson.
At the city center market last week, many, mostly senior citizens, were buying vegetables and dried fish - despite warnings on social media that a drone was flying in the area.
Tetiana Kudas, a 61-year-old cleaner who was shopping at the market, said it had become even more dangerous recently in the city, which Russian President Vladimir Putin claims should belong to Russia as part of any peace deal.
“They are bombing us even more now,” she said in a trembling voice as she explained how she would rather risk death in Kherson than go somewhere where people would see her as a foreigner.
"I will stay on my land, so whatever happens, happens," she said.
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