Julia Kochetova

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Dan Sabbagh |Julia Kochetova

A Russian Shahed drone costing up to £75,000 is estimated to have inflicted tens of millions worth of damage to the site of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, according to initial assessments and engineering experts. The cost of a full fix is likely to be borne by western governments including the UK, because initial estimates are that a complete repair will cost more than the €25m available in a special international contingency fund.

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Dan Sabbagh |Julia Kochetova

“I’m not just here to avenge my brother,” says Luntik, 20, one of Ukraine’s newest soldiers, as he takes a break from training. He has joined up, he says, to try to liberate the territory of Ukraine from the Russian invaders: “When the thief is coming to your house and you are afraid he might harm you or kill your wife, you will take actions and, if necessary, kill the thief.”The mild spring day, somewhere in Kharkiv region, belies the seriousness of the conversation.

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Luke Harding |Julia Kochetova

About 1am on Friday, Yuliia Verbytska woke to the sound of an air raid siren. She grabbed her teenage children – Dmitry, 17, and Olexiy, 12 – and sat in the corridor, checking her phone. In the sky above came an ominous whine. Minutes later, a Russian drone crashed into the disused soap factory down the road in Polyova Street. There was an enormous explosion. “We don’t have a shelter in our building, so we hide behind two concrete walls. All the neighbours sit together.

Nov 16, 2024 | theguardian.com | Dan Sabbagh |Julia Kochetova

The armoured car’s bumpy high-speed journey comes to a halt, and the Guardian team are dropped off in the November darkness, where two Ukrainians soldiers await. Using hard to detect red and green torchlight, they follow an unmarked trail across rough fields, punctuated by the sounds of frontline shelling, until a concealed opening appears. Inside, a specialist drone crew is at work.

Oct 5, 2024 | theguardian.com | Charlotte Higgins |Julia Kochetova

People living in the frontline Ukrainian city of Kharkiv have been close enough to death to look it in the eye – and make some kind of peace with its proximity. These are the hardcore ones, equipped “with nerves of steel” according to Nataliia Ivanova, the director of the Yermilov Centre, the city’s contemporary art gallery. Daily life in Kharkiv. A student population of about 200,000 in the university city has disappeared as undergraduates take classes online.