In August 2021, 4 friends of mine, my wife and me have bought plane tickets to Kherson. We flew there, rented a car and started a head-spinning, jam-packed trip around the Kherson region. Back then, the place wasn’t exactly as famous as it is now, and neither of us had been there before - but we were excited to see the nature that is somewhat different to the rest of the country. This region is essentially flat, with lots of rivers and reservoirs dotting endless fields of grain, soy or watermelons. August is the prime time for agriculture, as most of the crop is ready for sowing. One can easily stop by the side of the road to buy some delicious watermelons for much less than a dollar - essentially more than half the price of the same produce in other major cities, like Kyiv or Lviv. At that time, Kherson is also a warm and sunny region, perfect for swimming in the Black Sea or some lake/river or kayaking, for that matter.

A few years before the trip, I’ve accidentally stumbled upon this video about a kayaking company created by two adventurers. This video starts with a view of Stanislav Slopes where, at the beginning of 2010s, Andrii Kuzmenko with his music band ‘‘Skryabin’’ chose to show one of them in the video called ‘Places of happy people’’. I’ve heard the song before, but after seeing the video I told myself - I must pay a visit to that place, it looks too good to pass on.

Back to the interview interview with two local lads. They are Oleh Marchuk and Andrii Holinko, who, some time after 2010, moved back to their home village, Oleksandrivka, and started promoting tourism in this region. They launched a tour agency and organized kayaking tours here. Before the trip, we gave them a call and Oleg graciously agreed to give us a guided tour on kayaks. Exactly around the Stanislav Slopes. So I was very much looking forward to finally seeing that area and learning more about it from the locals.

We ended up having a great time. We arrived at an ordinary looking village house, with a typical porch and wine branches covering the driveway, creating shade. You can see for yourself at an image below.

There was a large area for tents and, a bit further away, beyond a fence - a beach and a gulf. Guys were apologizing for a long queue for the barbecue - the place was full of tourists and they simply had too few of them for all to use. They promised they would weld some more barbecues soon. Also, they were clearly in process of renovating this house - new plastic windows stood by, ready to replace the old, inefficient wooden ones. I saw sacks of cement, too.

When speaking with Oleg, I learned that they already bought 13 kayaks and lots of equipment to go with them - like life wests. They had their neighbours host tourists while they were renovating 5 rooms in a house they bought.

They clearly had some big plans for this place once the summer season was over - and indeed, all they could talk about was renovation techniques, how to save money on building materials and, ultimately, what they wanted to do with this place. They had plans. They had ideas and dreams.
Sadly, all those dreams were shattered when, on February 24th, Russian troops crossed the region line between Kherson and illegally occupied Crimea and advanced towards Kherson city.

The Russians quickly gained control over the city and started spreading North, towards Mykolaiv, with the intention of reaching Odesa and South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant. Of course, they were stopped well before those location and, with their communication lines overstretched, were quickly being pulled apart. The front line established itself roughly on the borderline between Mykolaiv and Kherson regions.

Oleksandrivka - the village where we stayed - is right on that border. So, it ended up right on the front line. It became a contested village, changing hands frequently, with fighting raging daily in and around it.

Today, the Stanislav hills stand liberated but the village is largely gone. Out of 251 houses only 10 are still standing. There is no church, no school, no government office - those structures now resemble a few still standing walls at best - but mostly they have been reduced to a pile of rubble.

We currently do not know how many people have died or survived this period in the village itself. Before the Russians reached Oleksandrivka, Oleg and his friends all moved out to nearby Mykolaiv - by no means a safe city, with constant shelling and no drinking water still. (the pumping stations that supplied Mykolaiv with water ended up in occupied territory and were promptly blown up)

Once the Russians were pushed south across the Dnipro river, they were allowed to return after their camp was checked by a demining crew. Even then, they were afraid to touch anything. They were aware that Russians had no problem mining up fridges and children’s toys - so why wouldn’t they hide a bomb under a kayak? Of course, their place is totally destroyed. Windows are gone, some walls too; in some places, the roof has caved in. This place is beyond repair - after complete check for unexplored ordinance, it’s only fate is complete demolition and subsequent rebuild. Some kayaks are still salvageable - holes in their fibreglass body can be patched up.

But the area around them also requires “rebuilding”. The village stood on the front line - it is difficult to even estimate how much unexploded danger is buried in the area.

Right now, some locals might return to see what’s left of their possessions. Some might even stay to try to salvage a building from continuous deterioration due to weather. But some will get careless and detonate a mine. So it is hard to imagine tourists returning here at all - how do you convince them that the area is safe? That it is safe to walk around, not confined to the roads and paths? That ones child can safely run away somewhere and the worst that could happen to them is a bruise or a scratch?

Even if these guys had all the money in the world - convincing people to visit them is an entirely different matter now.

When they returned, they found a notebook with some poetry. It was written in Ukrainian, so it could have only come from a Ukrainian soldier. By posting screenshots of it on Facebook they managed to track down the author. Turns out their house was manned by some Ukrainian soldiers, who were eventually told to retreat. The owner of the notebook - who can not be named yet - has been wounded and was tracked down in a military hospital in Mykolaiv. He is still recovering from his injuries.

I will leave you with photos a video tour of their house and camp when they first got there after just 9 month of absence. You can see it for yourself what has happened to it.

If you wish to help Oleg rebuild his camp, please feel free to donate by following this link.

All the materials used the being reproduced with the permission of their author.