On the Monday, a bus, a library and a graveyard. On the Tuesday, a warehouse and two cars. The occupants of the car hit by a kamikaze drone were only concussed. The other caught fire when a shell smashed into it. After firefighters put out the flames, they found what remained of the owner inside.
On the Wednesday, a round landed just after breakfast in the middle of town. Three council staff were walking along, the working day ahead of them. Shards from the blast wounded two. The third died on the kerbside. A blue plastic sheet was laid over her body. All around, glass from blown-out windows crunched underfoot.
The governor of Kherson region has beseeched civilians in this southern area of Ukraine to leave. He has offered free travel and help with accommodation. As well as shells to dodge, there has been a flood, unleashed, apparently by the Russians, when the Kakhova dam was destroyed in June.
And yet last Thursday morning at the city's market, almost a year since Ukraine's liberation of the area, residents were stocking up for another week on the frontline.
The Dnipro river cuts the region in two. The eastern side is still occupied by the Russians. Freedom has returned to the western side, where Kherson city abuts the bank, but not peace.
In the year since Ukrainian troops reached the centre of Kherson, the hundreds of shells, bombs, mortars, missiles and drones that the Russians fire across the river every day have killed 397 and injured 2,057, according to the local authorities, equivalent to about a quarter of the civilian death toll during the occupation.
One of the weapons from the sky landed beside the shop opposite Victoria's market stall a few weeks ago.
It sold milk, cheese and sausages to a loyal clientele. The shopkeeper had stepped out for a cigarette. That's what saved her. The charred husk of the shop stands two metres from where Victoria sells an array of underwear.
Denne historien er fra November 10, 2023-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Denne historien er fra November 10, 2023-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Starlink's conquest of the Amazon leaves Brazil in a dilemma
The helicopter swooped into one of the most inaccessible corners of the Amazon rainforest. Brazilian special forces commandos leaped from it into the caiman-inhabited waters below.
Dalai Lama's mountain town feels the strain of tourist boom
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Stormy waters New flashpoint emerges in South China Sea dispute
Hopes that tensions in the South China Sea might ease have been short lived.
'Justice delayed' Why trust in public inquiries to bring closure is fading
After the final report of the Grenfell fire inquiry was published, Hisam Choucair, who lost six family members in the blaze, said: \"We did not ask for this inquiry... It's delayed the justice my family deserves.\"
Celeriac soup with almond pangrattato
I'm not ashamed to say that as soon as September hits, my stick blender comes out. Just as I embrace salads when the clocks go forward in the UK, I wholeheartedly throw myself into soup season once the summer holidays end. Autumn is approaching in the northern hemisphere and I'm ready with my ladle. Celeriac is one of my favourite soup heroes, because it gives the creamiest, silkiest finish with little effort. You don't have to make the almond pangrattato, but it is a wonderful addition.
Are smoke signals telling me to make an oil change in the kitchen?
Should you that is, not can you) cook with extra-virgin olive oil? Antonio, Atlanta, Georgia, US
Going underground
A darkly humorous encounter between an American spy-cop and the members ofan eco-commune she is hired to infiltrate
All work and no play
Hard Graft, a powerfulnew London exhibition, focuses onworkers’ exploitation, from the ruined hands ofa washerwoman to mothers forced to sell their bodies
What the princess and the shaman tell us about hereditary privilege
It should have been an Instagram-perfect wedding image, but it turned out to be something more embarrassing.
