Villagers tell of life under occupation in Kherson province

, the day after the Russians announced their from Kherson city, the crump of artillery could be heard in the village of Bilyaivka, 20km (12 miles) north of the front line. The Russians were still fighting a rearguard action while evacuating their forces across the Dnieper river. (By the following day, reportedly, .) A plume of black smoke rose from the wide steppe into the blue sky.“It used to be non-stop,” said Valentina Stupak, a hale with gold teeth and gold earrings, shushing the barking dogs tethered in her yard. “Then our Ukrainians pushed them back and they answered with missiles.”