Erasing from the face of the earth: what is happening in deserted villages on the border of the Sumy region

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, life on the border has become dangerous and people have begun to evacuate from cities, towns and villages that suffered from shelling every day.

According to the Sumy regional military administration, as of early December 2024, all residents had been evacuated from 38 settlements in the region.

In the Velykopysarivka community, the villages of Lukashivka and Popivka were completely evacuated. Several dozen people remain in 7 settlements.

“The situation with shelling has hardly changed. Perhaps there is a little less shelling due to the fact that there are no civilians on the streets, everyone has left. But in general, everything is the same,” the Velykopysarivka rural military administration comments.

Since March of this year, inspections have been prohibited in 4 settlements of the community, accordingly, there is no way to record damage.

“These are Oleksandrivka, Ponomarenki, Lukashivka and Popivka. Civilians do not have access to these villages. There are cases when we can only learn about the destruction from the owners,” the military administration of the village of Velykopysarivska notes.

In the Bilopolska community, all people have left the village of Volfyne. Up to 20 villages have been evacuated almost completely. Despite the absence of people, the shelling here does not stop.

“They are finishing off houses. Today, they have been shelling intensively since the very morning. We do not know where and what the consequences will be. Drones are constantly flying, they are learning to use them here,” says the head of the Bilopolska community, Yuriy Zarko.

Due to the constant shelling, it is almost impossible to record new destruction.

“There are villages where the commission cannot go. Where people still remain, for example, Iskryskivshchyna, we ask to record the consequences, take photos if possible,” says Yuriy Zarko.

In the Khotynska community, all people have been evacuated from 5 settlements.

“They are constantly shelling, but we do not know where they are flying. Drones fly there like bees. It’s actually a gray zone – there are no civilians or military there,” says the head of the Khotyn community, Mykola Toryanyk.

Sometimes it’s still possible to record the consequences of enemy shelling in the border villages of the community, but with a delay.

“There is destruction, but we can’t find out about it right away. It could be in a week. If there is permission, the village head can go, someone will drive by, then they will record it, take pictures,” explains Mykola Toryanyk.

As we can see, it is almost impossible to document the consequences of shelling in border villages: there are no people there, the commission cannot get there, and accordingly, headquarters for liquidation of the consequences are not deployed there.