Under the Shadow of Drones: Life in Sumy, Ukraine, Amid Fear of Bombing and Occupation
The 250,000 residents of Sumy, the Ukrainian town near the Russian border, are caught between intensifying drone attacks and the front line – now only 20 kilometers away, following the Ukrainian retreat from the Kursk region.
Located in northern Ukraine, the road from Sumy to Bilopillia undulates between fields of golden wheat under a brilliant blue sky, a vivid picture of the Ukrainian flag. But the closer you get to the Russian border, the rarer the crops become. 'From now on, it's the drones that control the area,' says the mayor, Yuri Zarko, at the wheel of his SUV. Caution dictates that you drive at over 100 km/h, despite the potholes, to attempt to evade the Russian FPV drones — the immersion-piloted machines that strike the region relentlessly.
A monument reminds us how dangerous the area is: a month earlier, two soldiers perished when their car was blown up by a kamikaze drone. Suddenly, the mayor's car enters a makeshift tunnel: for dozens of kilometers, white nets — 'originally for harvesting cucumbers,' he says with a smile — protect the road. If the rigged machines try to attack or drop an explosive, they get stuck in the nets.
After 14 years as the head of the community of communes bordering Russia…
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