EA Russian missile hits a residential building in Dnipro and shreds parts of the building. The torn down walls lay bare the life just lived. The photo of a yellow kitchen with a bowl of intact apples on the table went around the world. More than forty people die.

The Ukrainian government is calling on all residents who are still holding out in hard-fought Bakhmut to leave their city. There is almost nothing left of this city. Smoke rises from the ruins. A landscape of ruins, a ghost place reminiscent of the destroyed Mariupol.

A video from Cherson, taken shortly after a Russian attack, spreads via Telegram. People are lying on the street covered in blood, you can hear the siren of an ambulance and screams of despair. The paramedics treat the injured and cover the dead with sheets. A man kneels on the asphalt, crying. It is December 24, 2022.

News and images like these have dominated everyday life in Ukraine for a year. A year of war. A year of suffering, destruction and death. How does a person endure a life of constant threat?

Together on a stormy sea

Valentyn lives in Odessa, he goes to church almost every day, he prays and sings in the choir, from which he draws the necessary strength not to despair of the war. It helps him to help other people. Because the city’s territorial defense headquarters are located across from his apartment building, Valentyn’s apartment has reliable electricity. A rare good. Odessa has often been in the dark since the Russian army launched a targeted attack on the country’s critical infrastructure. Friends and acquaintances come to Valentyn, whose doors are always open, and charge their mobile phones. They warm up borscht, make tea, and some pour their hearts out. The war brought people together, even after a year, says Valentyn. They are trapped together on a ship in a stormy sea. But this never-ending storm drains the psyche, robs Valentyn of sleep and dominates every second of life, which has become a struggle for survival. The war destroys the dream of the future.

The official Telegram channel of Odessa reports about a “job fair for motivated patriots”. But who is still “motivated” after a year of war? Who would want to risk returning from the front in a coffin like so many fallen soldiers? In the past few days, around 2,000 volunteers from the region are said to have volunteered for various tasks at and behind the front. War requires a constant supply of machines and people. Valentyn says, “More and more of our soldiers are dying, we’re running out of time.”

The hiss of the rockets

What has he gotten used to since February 24, 2022? “To the air alert,” he says. The hissing of the rockets, which, just before they hit, fly as slowly as an airplane on the approach to land. Valentyn hasn’t sought shelter in a basement for a long time. He has also gotten used to the high prices, out of necessity. They have risen so much because the diesel-powered generators in the supermarkets eat up a lot of money.