For Alina Sydorenko, home is the small village of Pidlyman in Kharkiv region. Nowadays, it does not differ much from other settlements near Izium: fully intact houses are rare; residents’ fences resemble a sieve of shots and shrapnel; mine warning signs are installed along the entire road to the village; empty streets are primarily silent, whereas before, they used to be filled with daily conversations about everyday life and children’s laughter.
Alina’s ‘home’ used to be an actual resort centre, with the Oskil River on one side and vast forests of breathtaking beauty on the other. But now it is a restricted area: even the youngest child knows that there is unexploded ordnance in the forest, left over from intense hostilities. Previously, every summer, tourist centres near the river would host visitors from different regions. There used to be a spacious school here, which is no longer used for its intended purpose: education is now online. More than 1,670 people lived here until 2022. Today, little more than 600 villagers are saving everything that has survived the shelling and trying to rebuild what can still be restored.
Source : Icrc
