Odesa beaches reopen, offering Ukrainians a respite from war
... "This is the summer to be a little bit relaxed when we have the kids," she said. "It's really important for everybody, for every family."
The chic beaches of Odesa, a short walk from glitzy hotels and shoreside restaurants, were once a draw for tourists from around the world — many of them from Russia. In peacetime, cosmopolitan crowds speaking a dozen different languages would swim here together.
Now this stretch of Black Sea coast is an active war zone, at the center of a global conflict over grain shipments. Russian ships and aircraft regularly fire missiles that strike Odesa.
When missiles and drone attacks first hit the city — and Russian naval vessels started laying explosive sea mines around the port — the beaches were closed. Warning signs urged people to keep their distance. Even now, Sapunshtyn said she was wary of swimming out into the deeper water. They were only wading in the shallows.
"We don't swim longer because I think it's dangerous, actually, because [there are] a lot of bombs and nobody knows how it's moving in the sea," she said. ...
... This tension exists in much of Ukraine: People struggle to find a precarious balance between normal life and the deadly conflict that shows no sign of ending anytime soon.
"Everything could end," said Khrystyna Shkorpeio. "But on the beach ... I feel more relaxed, it's easier to cope." ... "We came to swim as soon as we learned the beaches had reopened," he said. But Chernenko acknowledged the reality of war is never far away. He may himself wind up in the army soon.
He and others here say they have to keep living as well as they can, to prove to Russia — and to themselves — that this war won't wear them down.
https://www.npr.org/2023/08/31/11962...open-black-sea
Reply With Quote
