Kamianka is a village near Izium in the Kharkiv region that was literally wiped off the map by the russians. There is not a single house left standing.
The formerly rich farming village has been caught in the crossfire since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, as it lies in a valley between two heights. Locals say the Russians have been mercilessly shelling them with everything they can think of – Grads, mortars, machine guns, howitzers, tanks, and in March, they began dropping bombs.
The armed forces liberated Kamianka in September 2022. Burnt out and broken houses, killed and shot animals, looted and destroyed property, piles of military and household garbage, densely mined yards, gardens and fields. People died in the streets under fire, in buried cellars, tortured and killed by the russians during the occupation. The village was left in ruins.
But the locals stubbornly refuse to accept the reality – without electricity, water, gas and communication and without any guarantees from the authorities for the future. The villagers want to rebuild their homes at any cost. Several dozen people live here now, and others are planning to return.
Photo: Andriy Dubchak