![]() ![]() The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.170 coastal artillery guns (includes guns from 100mm to 210mm, as well as 320mm rocket launchers) ġ0,000+ casualties 4,414 confirmed dead Ĥ,000–9,000 killed, wounded, missing or captured This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. (SOUNDBITE OF MAREN MORRIS SONG, "GOLD LOVE")Ĭopyright © 2023 NPR. Ukrainians say this kind of resilience, this effort to find joy and peace wherever possible, will keep their country in the fight as long as it takes. It is strange to stand on this beach surrounded by sunbathers and families running into the waves and people doing yoga on the sand at a time when the city is under Russian embargo, threatened with attack at any moment. MANN: "It was very intense," Dmytro says. He was in Odessa last month when a salvo of Russian missiles slammed the city, damaging one of the cathedrals and injuring 22 people. He says the reality of this war is never far away. Dmytro, who's 19, may wind up in the Army himself soon. MANN: "Yes, we came to swim as soon as we learned the beaches were reopened," he says. He says it's wonderful to just forget the war for a while. Dmytro Chernenko, a lanky teenager in blue swim trunks, has come with his mother. An elderly couple sits close under a beach umbrella. But on this day, there are children playing and lovers floating in the Black Sea. MANN: Last winter was exhausting and cold in Odessa. SHKORPEIO: Yeah, of course I'm really happy. After a day at the beach, life feels almost normal." MANN: "I don't know what to say," Khrystyna says. KHRYSTYNA SHKORPEIO: Everything can end, but on the beach, you can (speaking Ukrainian). Khrystyna Shkorpeio works in a cafe here in Odessa and says her days are often broken up by air raid alerts and missile strikes. But people here say they have to keep living as well as they can to prove to Russia and to themselves this war won't wear them down. Russian ships and aircraft regularly fire missiles that hit Odessa. On the one hand, the Black Sea is a war zone. ![]() ![]() MANN: You find this weird tension in much of Ukraine. MANN: One of those Russian sea mines, meant to blockade grain shipments from Odessa's port, floated up on another public beach earlier this month. SAPUNSHTYN: Because a lot of bomb, and nobody know how it's moving in the sea. Tatiana is afraid if they go further out into the glittering waves, they might encounter one of the deadly sea mines Russia has scattered along this coast. But Tatiana says they're only wading in the shallows. MANN: Tatiana Sapunshtyn has come on a hot summer afternoon with her daughter, Polina. TATIANA SAPUNSHTYN: This is a summer to be a little bit relaxed when we have kids and - really important for everybody, for every family. And a lot of families - they say they're coming here to relieve the stress of living in wartime. Even though missile strikes continue, beaches are open again. NPR's Brian Mann reports from the Black Sea coast.īRIAN MANN, BYLINE: When I was in Odessa last year, this beach and all the beaches in the city were closed. On the home front, Ukrainians are showing resistance in part by heading back to the beach. Ukrainians are defying Russia's invasion this summer in ways big and small. ![]()
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