MYKOLAIV IN AUTUMN 2024
Yevgenia BelorusetsKyiv
Journalist and photographer Yevgenia Belorusets returns to Mykolaiv, a southern Ukrainian city repeatedly targeted by Russian artillery since the outbreak of war in 2022. She finds not only the buildings in ruins, but the city’s very infrastructure: as a result of Russian attacks, the city’s water system has been completely dismantled, and any attempts to repair it are met with fierce skirmishes. The city she once knew as a blissful seaside resort now appears as the site of a medieval plague, its inhabitants stuck indoors for days on end with no water or electricity. Old women, taxi drivers and officials at Mykolaiv’s water supply company tell stories of their day-to-day lives, sketching a panorama of a city ground down by war, and governed by fear.