Saturday, March 29, 2025
A person Finds Russian Base Established in Their Childhood Home.
While sitting at his office in central London, a Ukrainian journalist, driven by nostalgia for his home region of Zaporizhzhia, made a deeply personal and disturbing discovery. He examined recent satellite images of his occupied childhood village, Verkhnya Krynytsya (Upper Spring), which lies just kilometers from the active front line. Amid the familiar, overgrown landscape, his eye caught a startling new feature: a well-used, fresh road leading directly to the abandoned house where he grew up. He quickly concluded that in a restricted war zone, only one group would be making such a track: Russian soldiers.
Verkhnya Krynytsya, a small, quiet village before the war, was occupied shortly after the full-scale invasion in February 2022. Though his family had long sold the property, the fate of the village and its residents is a harsh reality of the occupation. Despite declining to fight the invaders, the community suffered brutal treatment; the village head was reportedly captured and tortured by Russian forces. The once-peaceful surroundings have also been destroyed: the massive Kakhovka reservoir, which locals called “the Sea,” was drained after the dam’s collapse, erasing a beloved feature of the landscape and destroying homes.
The conditions under occupation are now characterized by fear and lawlessness. Many residents have fled, and those who remain are terrified to speak out, fearing swift retribution from Russian forces. The danger also comes from the sky, as the village’s proximity to the front line exposes it to frequent Ukrainian drone attacks. Given the devastation and danger, the only people likely moving into vacant properties—like the journalist’s childhood home—are Russian troops. This is a practice confirmed by the Ukrainian military, with a spokesperson for the 128th Detached Heavy Mechanised Brigade stating it is “extremely likely” that soldiers are utilizing empty houses as barracks and winter posts to escape freezing trenches.
A detailed analysis of satellite imagery, including pictures showing a car using the track in January 2023, confirmed a persistent pattern of movement around the property since the summer of 2022. The path’s tendency to fade and reappear with the seasons suggests the house is being used periodically, most likely as a winter shelter for troops or supplies. For the journalist, the unsettling truth is clear: his old home has been repurposed, becoming a “tiny cog” in the wider military machine of Russia’s war in Ukraine, a symbol of the profound invasion of private life.
