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“Drones fly right above the stores”: Residents flee the border areas of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk Region amid Russian advance
Russian troops are continuing their offensive in the Dnipropetrovsk Region. Moscow’s forces entered the area only this summer, but over the past month alone, they have occupied at least ten villages. Amid the Russian army’s advance, authorities in the region have announced a mandatory evacuation, with thousands of residents being removed from settlements near the town of Pokrovske. The rescue efforts have been met by mass Russian drone strikes targeting civilian vehicles. The Insider spoke with volunteers and residents of the shelled settlements.
Content
What is happening in the Dnipropetrovsk Region
Where people are going
What evacuation looks like
“Mama, you brought me to paradise”
“It was hard to leave. I cried. I even said goodbye to the furniture, kissed the walls of the house. We built everything with our own hands, worked, earned what we could. And you see what they’ve done?” Yulia recalls how she was recently forced to evacuate with her children from the village of Pokrovske in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region. According to her, almost everyone has already left the settlement. The only residents who remain are those who fear the uncertainty of evacuation as much as Russian occupation itself.
What is happening in the Dnipropetrovsk Region
Russian troops invaded the Dnipropetrovsk Region on Aug. 24, occupying the villages of Zaporozhske and Novoheorhiivka (1, 2). This incursion followed fierce fighting in the southern Donetsk direction. Russian authorities first claimed “successes” in this area as early as July, reporting the “capture” of the village of Dachne. However, according to the Ukrainian open source intelligence (OSINT) project DeepState, fighting for Dachne is still ongoing, and the village remains in a “grey zone.”
According to the project’s data, as of Oct. 7 the Russian army has occupied around ten villages — an area amounting to less than one percent of the overall region. Russia’s Ministry of Defense reports control over fifteen settlements, but, as in the case of Dachne, some of these appear to be “captured” only in the General Staff’s reports.
Due to the advance of Russian forces, Ukrainian authorities have begun a mandatory evacuation in at least 18 settlements across the Dnipropetrovsk Region. Plans call for the relocation of at least 1,000 children and an even greater number of adults to safer areas. The evacuation affects the villages of Andriivka, Bohodarivka, Bratske, Otradne, Svobodne, Vodyane, Hai, Dobropasove, Levadne, Novooleksandrivka, Novoskalovate, Oleksandrivka, Otroshky, Pysantsi, Skotovate, Starokasyanivske, and Chernenkove, among others.
Daniil Yatskanych, coordinator of the transit hub of the NGO Children New Generation, which handles evacuations from frontline areas of Ukraine, says that over the past month the scale of evacuations the Dnipropetrovsk Region has become enormous:
“A huge number of people are being evacuated. But there are still those who hope it will all end soon. They stay where it is already extremely dangerous, where everything is monitored by drones. And our volunteers have to go into the hottest zones and pull people out from under drones, glide bombs (KABs), and everything else.”
Evacuation group of Children New Generation searching for a house where residents await pickup, Novoivanivka village, Dnipropetrovsk Region
Where people are going
Children New Generation began conducting regular evacuation missions in March 2022. Since then, the team has evacuated more than 7,000 people from frontline areas.
“We opened our first shelter three and a half years ago, when we started helping with evacuations. We took out a large number of people from the Kherson and Donetsk regions and realized we needed to expand,” says Yatskanych.
In the city of Dnipro, the team has rented a 1,000-square-meter building to house evacuees — families with children, people with disabilities, and the elderly. The shelter provides 60 permanent places. Some displaced persons have been living there for two or three years, Yatskanych says.
Evacuation of civilians in the village of Vodyanske, Donetsk Region
When the situation in the Pokrovske and southern Donetsk directions began to deteriorate, the shelter was expanded by another 60 beds, this time intended for temporary residents.
“Around 400–500 people a day began arriving at the evacuation point in Pavlohrad. It wasn’t possible to transport them onward quickly, and people needed a place to wait safely before their departure,” Yatskanych says.
Evacuees stay at the Dnipro shelter free of charge: “Our staff prepare meals in the kitchen. There are showers and a laundry. Psychologists from other foundations come to work with both children and adults. It’s mainly a place for long-term accommodation — a space to recover, to get away from all the horrors, and to move forward.”
However, as the front line inches westward, more and more displaced civilians — especially families with children — began arriving at the Pavlohrad evacuation point. As a result, Children New Generation opened another shelter — a small hub in the village of Stepove that is designed specifically for families with children. People can stay there for up to three days, until a suitable place for resettlement is found further away from the war zone.
“When families arrive, we register them and create a file, which we send to Save Ukraine. Together with the families, they then decide where they can be relocated,” Yatskanych explains.
Transit hub for families in the village of Stepove
Over the past month, the hub in Stepove has hosted dozens of families from the town of Pokrovske and nearby settlements — the villages of Mezhova, Otradne, Prosyana, Vesele, and Bratske. According to the hub’s director, Roman Mykyta, the children genuinely enjoy their time there: “The hub is set up in a former kindergarten. There are playgrounds, children’s furniture, desks, and toys.”
In addition, the shelter in Stepove often organizes activities and outings to help residents take their minds off the difficult reality. “Everyone is under severe psychological stress — bombs flying overhead, explosions nearby, and then the evacuation itself. So people are grateful for such opportunities. Recently, three families went to Dnipro for an event for children aged 4-10, with games and quests. There was also free clothing distribution,” says Roman.
Tatiana’s family evacuated from the town of Pokrovske on Sept. 24. She and her husband have four children. She says they plan to stay within the Dnipropetrovsk Region while settling somewhere a bit farther from the fighting. “Maybe things will get better,” Tatiana says hopefully.
She and her husband had moved to her parents’ house in Pokrovske just a few months earlier. Before that, the couple lived in the Zaporizhzhia Region, where things were even worse. “It was terrifying there. They started hitting near our village with glide bombs. As soon as we left, it was struck,” she recalls.
At first, Pokrovske seemed calmer. “When we moved, it wasn’t too bad. Shaheds [Iranian-made drones] hit industrial sites, and FPV drones targeted cars,” Tatiana says. “But in the past month, the drones started reaching us more often. Evacuation vehicles began coming around, warning families with children to leave.”
According to her, the family had managed to establish some semblance of normal life in Pokrovske. “We had some temporary work — we were growing cucumbers. And of course, we were busy with the children. When we decided to evacuate, we took only the essentials, just what we needed for the first days. The main thing is that the children stay alive,” Tatiana explained.
What evacuation looks like
Daria, the coordinator of the Children New Generation evacuation group, describes the difficulties her team faces during operations: “Many people refuse to leave — some hope to ‘wait it out,’ others believe their village won’t be hit.”
Most often, elderly people without relatives stay behind. They fear that if they leave, they will end up completely alone — without financial or emotional support. “Those who refuse eventually ask to be taken out. That’s what happened in Mezhova, in Velykomykhailivka, in Malomykhailivka — the settlements closest to the front line,” Daria explains.
According to her, the organization is now receiving a surge of evacuation requests from the Mezhova district, mainly the villages of Vesele, Demurove, and Bohdanivka. “These places are being heavily shelled. People are begging to be taken out, but at the moment it’s not possible,” she says.
The evacuation process is always risky. After an official government order is issued, residents have 30 days to prepare to leave. Volunteers from Children New Generation try to alert locals as early as possible about the opportunity to evacuate.
“We work together with the police and local community officials, so we often know about planned evacuations even before the documents are signed. We immediately go to the residents. We tell them about our organization, what we can provide, what conditions we offer, and what will happen next,” Daria explains.
Volunteers give people the number of a hotline where they can submit an evacuation request. “In the evening, I determine how many people need to be taken out, from which settlements, and with which vehicles,” the coordinator explains. In the morning, the evacuation team holds a coordination call with the police to discuss which locations can be reached safely on their own and which are already too dangerous to access.
Evacuations in the Dnipropetrovsk Region are also carried out by the humanitarian mission Proliska and the White Angels — special police units of Ukraine that help evacuate civilians from frontline areas during shelling. However, according to Daria, even they are not always able to get in and out due to heavy bombardments or vehicle breakdowns.
People must decide what matters more: a bag or their life
All of the organizations work in close coordination, deciding in advance who will go where and assisting each other when necessary. “When they have vehicle problems, we provide ours and our staff, and they do the same for us. Recently, a woman asked to be taken out of Demurove, but the situation there was too dangerous. Our organization couldn’t go — we don’t have enough armored vehicles. We asked the White Angels for help, but unfortunately, their car had broken down.The poor woman kept calling us, still hoping for evacuation,” Daria recounts.
Once the evacuation team arrives at a site, they must act as quickly and discreetly as possible: “We try not to attract attention. FPV drones are flying. If one spots you, it goes straight for the car. No bags. People must decide for themselves: what’s more important, your bag or your life? The only thing they should have ready are their documents. The evacuation takes no more than ten minutes. We can’t stand there waiting while people pack their belongings.”
Last week, Daria says, the evacuation team barely managed to save a group of people in Pokrovske: “We had just dropped people off at our point — a busy area, lots of noise. Suddenly, we heard the sound of an FPV drone approaching. We managed to hide everyone behind a store. Thank God, it flew right past us and hit somewhere else. No one was injured.”
“FPV drones hit everything they see — dogs, goats, grandmothers, grandfathers, a bicycle, a car, a moped — it doesn’t matter”
According to the coordinator, the ever-present drones have become a major problem: “In Mezhova, for example, they fly into windows — burning homes and civilian cars. They’re simply everywhere. They hit everything they see: dogs, goats, grandmothers, grandfathers. A bicycle goes by, a car, a moped — it doesn’t matter. For them, it’s like entertainment. Yesterday we evacuated a family from Levadne. They decided to leave after glide bombs hit near their house. They got scared,” she says.
“Mama, you brought me to paradise”
Volunteers came to Yulia Timoshenko from the town of Pokrovske three times before she agreed to evacuate. “They told us: it’s time, don’t wait until it’s too late,” the woman recalls. In Pokrovske, Yulia lived with her husband and children in the house she inherited from her parents.
“My husband built a playground, a shed. We tried to create normal conditions for the children. Sometimes we even went without things ourselves, telling them: ‘We’ll finish fixing the house, and then we’ll buy you a laptop or whatever you want.’ We finished the house completely — but never did buy the laptop,” Yulia says, holding back tears.
Yulia Timoshenko with her children
Until the autumn, the village had been relatively quiet. But in September, the shelling began. The family started sleeping in the hallway, where it was safer.
“We laid out blankets, pillows, coats. I covered the children so the glass or debris wouldn’t hit them. When a Shahed drone came, you could already hear it falling,” Yulia recalls. “The older kids would jump up right away, but the little one would say, ‘Mom, I want to sleep.’ And I’d tell her, ‘Daughter, we have to run, we have to hide.’”
The children were so terrified that when the family was finally evacuated, Yulia’s youngest daughter said as soon as they arrived: “How beautiful it is, Mama, you brought me to paradise! It’s so quiet, so peaceful.”
Things were very different back in Pokrovske. “We only went to the shop for five minutes — just to buy bread and run back,” Yulia says. “The drones flew right above the stores. They hunted people. They strike directly at civilians, at houses. I can’t understand how anyone could do that. And the day before yesterday my husband called — he said a drone hovered over our house for half an hour. He thought that was it, that he’d never see us again.”
Yulia’s husband is still stuck in Pokrovske. He wasn’t allowed through the checkpoint during the evacuation because he isn’t the children’s biological father. He stayed behind with their cat and dog (who resembles Patron, the famous Ukrainian mine-sniffing dog). Yulia keeps asking volunteers to evacuate him as soon as possible: “He has arthritis. Sometimes he can barely walk.”
Yulia recalls that, just before their evacuation, a Russian strike hit a farm across the street from their house. “All our windows were blown out. My hands are still covered in wounds. They’re only just healing. The corner of the wall cracked from the blast wave.”
According to Yulia, almost everyone has now left the settlement. Because of the shelling, shops have closed and gas stations no longer operate. “Everything’s destroyed — there’s basically no town center left. Only one shop is still open, and the prices there are sky-high. But even that one, my husband says, is about to close. ‘There’ll be no supplies, no food,’ he told me, ‘and then there’ll be no Pokrovske either.’”
“My husband says: ‘If there’s no food, there’ll be no Pokrovske either’”
For now, Yulia is waiting for her husband to be evacuated and for suitable housing to be found for them in a safer part of Ukraine. She never tires of expressing her gratitude to the volunteers: “I thought people like that didn’t exist. They treat us so well. They feed us, and everything is free. We have no money to rent an apartment. And there’s no one else — I’m an orphan; I only have my husband and children.”
However, according to evacuation coordinator Daria, there are evacuees who, despite all the danger, still decide to return home. “There was a case when we evacuated a mother with her 16-year-old daughter. It was just the two of them — no family, no relatives. The mother decided to go back to collect some things, and a missile killed her there. The daughter was left completely alone. And for what? What was the point?” Daria asks quietly.