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A full year of daily strikes on civilian areas of Ukraine have left people numb, saying they barely hear the sirens. Even far from the frontlines, locals say everything about life in Ukraine is different.
VOA’s Heather Murdock reports from Dnipro in Ukraine.
Content TypePackage
LanguageEnglish
Transcript/ScriptUKR 1YR: CITY STRIKES
HEAD: When Sirens Become White Noise
SUBHEAD: For a full year, air raid sirens have warned Ukrainians of incoming strikes, saving countless lives.
PUBLISHED AT: 2/15
BYLINE: Heather Murdock
DATELINE: DNIPRO, Ukraine
VIDEOGRAPHER: Yan Boechat
VIDEO EDITOR:
SCRIPT EDITORS: MAS, Aru Pande
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA ORIGINAL
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO _
TRT: 2:24
VID APPROVED BY: MAS
TYPE: TVPKG/RADIO
EDITOR NOTES:
((INTRO))
[[A full year of daily strikes on civilian areas of Ukraine have left people numb, saying they barely hear the sirens. Even far from the frontlines, locals say everything about life in Ukraine is different. VOA’s Heather Murdock reports from Dnipro in Ukraine.]]
((Nats, siren))
((NARRATOR:))
Sirens have howled across Ukraine almost every day for a year, indicating a strike may land somewhere and it would be a good idea to go inside, or underground if possible.
Most of the time, people ignore the noise.
The sirens were on when a missile hit this apartment building in Dnipro, according to local soldiers. But some survivors say they don’t remember hearing it. The missile ripped into the building on a holiday in January, killing 45 people.
((Petro Mykolayovich, Dnipro Resident)) ((Male in Russian))
“When the explosion happens, you do not hear anything. No pop, nothing. Just flying glass. You are in shock, you are confused. And while you gather your thoughts, blood pours from you. And then you hear women's screams, cars explode, and you stand up, and do not understand what to do next.”
((NARRATOR))
Dnipro is far from the frontlines and now home to thousands of displaced families. But it is still often the target of Russian bombs. Locals say a year of war has changed everything about their lives.
((Katya Riazanova, Dnipro Resident)) ((Female, in Ukrainian))
“What has changed for me personally, and for my family is that we have no plans for the future. We don't build them, because something terrible can happen at any moment. For me, this is the worst thing. I have no plans, no dreams.”
((NARRATOR:))
While war rages on in the eastern part of the country, other major cities, like Lviv in the west, have transformed. This hospital has become a national trauma center, accepting patients who have lost limbs in battles across the country.
And in Dnipro, which is in central Ukraine, survivors say the grief and the terror of the war reaches them daily, if not the actual battles.
((Petro Mykolayovich, Dnipro Resident)) ((Male in Russian))
“There are women, children, everyone is covered in blood, you know them all and you return, and the house is falling, and you realize that you will not see some people anymore. You greeted them yesterday morning, but today they are gone. In four hours. How to understand? How to get through it?”
((NARRATOR:))
Officials say in a year of battle, more than 7,100 civilians have been killed and more than 40,000 buildings have been destroyed in Ukraine.
((HEATHER MURDOCK, VOA NEWS, DNIPRO, UKRAINE))
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