Lots of of bikes are left piled up on the outskirts of Zelenodolsk, a small city in southern Ukraine simply 15 kilometres from the frontline.

They function a poignant image of lives abruptly interrupted as locals fled the struggle.

Now, practically six months since Russia’s invasion started, preventing is intensifying in southern Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered a counteroffensive to regain management of Russia-occupied areas comparable to Kherson.

In Zelenodolsk — which is in Ukrainian territory and round 130km from Kherson — artillery assaults typically attain the city centre. It is pressured many to flee. Those who keep barricade their home windows with wooden to guard from the fragments.

“It’s powerful right here, we stay below bombings,” mentioned Svetlana. “They fly over our heads on a regular basis. Sadly, we can’t do something about it apart from hope that the army will defend us.

“I actually hope the counteroffensive will work. We can’t proceed to stay like this. If it doesn’t work, I don’t know what we are going to do.”

The 53-year-old talks to Euronews as she stands in a queue to accumulate meals from volunteers – the one means for her to outlive. 

It is a bleak reminder that the financial affect of the struggle.

“I’m continuously in concern. It’s so scary, however we attempt to maintain on,” she added. “So many are out of jobs. It’s exhausting to outlive.”

‘Financial state of affairs very tense’

It’s not solely Zelenodolsk the place Russia’s invasion is taking its toll: Kryvyi Rih, the regional capital, 40 kilometres north, can be feeling the results.

A number of factories have closed and the town’s largest employer, the metal plant ArcelorMittal, has needed to scale back its output, prompting job losses. Earlier than the Russian invasion, 22,000 folks labored there, though it is unclear what number of have been laid off. 

“The financial state of affairs may be very tense,” Oleksandr Vilkul, the pinnacle of the army administration in Kryvyi Rih, informed Euronews. “95% of our exports and imports to our giant industrial corporations got here by the Black Sea.”

Russia’s blockade of the Black Sea has meant Ukraine’s ports have floor to a halt. Restricted shipments of grain are actually being allowed to go away following an UN-brokered deal between Ukraine, Russia and Turkey. 

The affect on the town is extreme. Outlets are closed, many individuals are out of labor and the specter of Russian assaults is fixed, mentioned Vilkul. 

“There are many horrible issues that they’re doing. And I can inform you after we liberate extra territory, there will likely be a number of locations worse than Bucha,” he added, referring to claims that Russian troopers dedicated struggle crimes towards civilians in areas north of Kyiv in February and March.

“The idea of Russia’s technique is to strangle our economic system and lower us off from the Black Sea, the place our foremost exports go.”

‘You’re simply ready for a missile to kill you’

Kryvyi Rih can be dwelling to a number of refugee centres, which have been internet hosting rising numbers of individuals after Kyiv — amid the deliberate counteroffensive in southern Ukraine — referred to as on locals to flee.

Many have come from the Kherson area, which Russia has occupied because the early days of the struggle. 

Certainly one of them is Lena, 28, who spoke to Euronews as she was searching for garments for herself and her household after leaving virtually all her belongings behind.

“We’re nonetheless scared. My son remains to be afraid to go inside as a result of he worries that Russia will drop a bomb on us. They did that at dwelling,” Lena says, “It’s higher right here. It’s extra steady. It’s not solely about surviving, however I hope to return dwelling someday.”

Russia is at the moment contemplating having a referendum within the Kherson area to combine it into Russia: an analogous tactic was deployed when it annexed Crimea in 2014. 

This implies Lena fears Ukraine will likely be unable to take the territory again and that she is going to by no means see her dwelling once more.

“I actually strive not to consider it,” mentioned Lena. “I really like my dwelling, and I want to return, however it’s too unstable. 

“Each evening, after we had been sleeping, the home was shaking. You’re simply ready for a missile to kill you.”

‘I do not know what we are going to do’

Within the centre of Kryvyi Rih, captured Russian tanks and different army automobiles stand as proud symbols of Ukrainian success. 

But some doubt whether or not Kyiv can retake Kherson and anyway, for a lot of, essentially the most urgent preoccupation is arguably the financial state of affairs.

Vladimir, 40, is one of many tanks along with his household, together with his 10-year-old son. He has work as a blacksmith, however, as a result of struggle, just for two days per week. 

“I earn lower than half of what I used to,” he mentioned. “So it’s exhausting. However it’s higher than others who’re fully with out work. However nonetheless, we don’t have a lot cash.

“I’m not positive what we are going to do within the winter if this continues. We dream that the struggle will finish, however I concern that we can’t retake territory. The state of affairs now isn’t sustainable.”

60-year-old Larysa, who’s together with her grandson, can be apprehensive.

“Should you ask me if I significantly suppose that we are able to retake Kherson, I might want to say that I doubt it,” says Larysa. “I hope so, however it will likely be exhausting.”

“If we are able to’t try this and the financial state of affairs is like now, I don’t know what we are going to do.”