GHOST TOWN 50 KILOMETERS FROM THE FRONT! What is happening now in Vasylkivka after Russian shelling

Speaker 1

Military personnel say that locals drive straight into the shelterbelts beyond Vasylkivka, beyond the settlements, in order to wait out Shahed attacks and missile attacks. The sports school still looks like this; the one in Vasylkivka is destroyed, although it didn't burn down at night near the city.

Speaker 2

The library is just mind-blowing.

Speaker 1

Now we are in the Vasylkivska OTG. We will be heading to Vasylkivka; this is the Synelnykove district. Combat operations are fifty kilometers from the village, but my task is to show you how this village lives, in this buffer zone between the rear cities and the frontline. Is there any life there at all and what is happening there currently? Regarding the situation in Vasylkivka, any Shahed?

Speaker 2

Yes, as reported by intelligence, they are now approaching Vasylkivka itself.

Speaker 1

Military say that locals drive straight into the groves beyond Vasylkivka, beyond the settlement, in order to wait out Shahed attacks, missile attacks. We see that civilian cars are also parked there. There are no intact houses at all, I see at the entrance. Sports school, that's how the Vasylkivska destroyed area looks now, as if it burned down across the town. Private

Speaker 1

Many dogs on site, there are almost no people.

Speaker 2

People leave, one person remains, and there, of course, all the animals gather.

Speaker 1

Good day. Record us then. I'll be without a face, if possible. Let's dive in. Well, and how about it, the Shahed attacks, are they over?

Speaker 4

Shahed

Speaker 1

Shahed attacks,

Speaker 4

Right? Shahed attacks. Often.

Speaker 1

In the groves, civilians are standing, waiting out the strikes. Waiting it out.

Speaker 4

Fly in, we are tracking completely. Yes, yes. Let's hope so.

Speaker 1

You see, five-story buildings are simply destroyed. No one is cleaning up, there is no one here. People have abandoned these ruins altogether. See, and what's interesting is that against the backdrop of such ruins, these flowers are just surreal, but this is what wartime beauties are like.

Speaker 4

Unfortunately.

Speaker 1

Once several thousand in the village of Vasylkivka, now it is completely empty. The community center, as far as I remember,

Speaker 2

Right?

Speaker 1

There were tasty cafes here. Half a year ago, now this is a market that is just burnt, burnt down, you see. Just nothing. And on this side it's the same. Before, it was just like a bit of a Las Vegas.

Speaker 2

He was locked up.

Speaker 1

This was literally just a few months ago, where or how? When?

Speaker 2

Well, it was about three months ago.

Speaker 1

The Cuman babas were here in Vasylkivka, and they were evacuated. Paratroopers took them away back in February 2026, when the situation with Pokrovske was a bit tense. And now they haven't been returned. This was one of the wonders and curiosities of Vasylkivka, the Cuman babas of the 13th century. Although, in my view, it seems to me that the greatest wonder and value are the people. The people of Vasylkivka, who, unfortunately, left their places, their homes, and moved away from here.

Speaker 2

Which craters

Speaker 1

from hits right on the roads. The library is just shocking. This area of the library, you see, with the books. I hope that perhaps the military will still evacuate valuable histories, as there is almost no access to Vasylkivka for civilians anymore. The history of this library. Photographs remained. There are pictures of children with toys here, children's literature. See, there are also lists, ledgers. Philosophy, morals, ethics. Things that Russians will certainly never understand. See, there is probably a jacket belonging to a staff member. A staff member's outerwear remained. They weren't here working at their workstations.

Speaker 2

These books contain our history, our culture. If we throw them around like this, what kind of generation will we be able to raise in the future? In my opinion, these are among the first things, after people, that need to be evacuated. Not your clothes or anything, but books. One must care for one's culture, even in such small things as preserving a book.

Speaker 1

So, you'll try to take out, right, a part?

Speaker 2

We will try to save and distribute them to some village libraries.

Speaker 1

Vasylkiv Central Library System. Thank you. Is everything flying? Everything is flying.

Speaker 3

Both KABs and drones are flying.

Speaker 1

And you're standing here, right?

Speaker 3

Further down, the road runs from Mykolaivka, Novomykolaivka, and Zaporizka. They are all flying in that direction, toward Dnipro.

Speaker 1

I heard that I saw how locals leave the city to wait out the KABs and Shaheds. It's like

Speaker 3

The warning is sounding, and they are driving out here.

Speaker 1

And you follow the warnings too, right?

Speaker 3

Well, yeah. If they're not at work, they leave, if they're not at work.

Speaker 1

And where do you work? I have my own.

Speaker 3

Apiary. Need it by the tip. To the end.

Speaker 1

They're leaving, right? Not yet?

Speaker 3

They are still leaving without need, so that there would be, at least a million, if not father. With thoughts.

Speaker 1

What do you have here? Is this intact, normal? State-owned? No, well, slate, mostly. The slate was replaced like this. Good.

Speaker 3

Those who didn't abandon their homes are coming back. People changed things two or three times. No. And those who abandoned them, somehow, just fixed the slate here, and that's it, they don't need to buy anything. Two kilograms of nails and they finish with that. People from Dnipro don't want to come, they are afraid. Although one person from Pavlohrad came to visit me. He said, "I won't come, only dogs live there now." A month later, he called on his own and came on his own. He says, "You'll go home and call me back." He left; he didn't call, didn't call. After three days he called—a Shahed hit a house in Rumy. He was afraid of coming here, but such a thing happened there near Pavlohrad.

Speaker 4

Kap flew like this,

Speaker 3

this is four

Speaker 4

houses.

Speaker 3

Nothing. A person lived there, how it all happened. They looked. They gave birth to shirts.

Speaker 1

Well, that's it, such are the ruminations. Also, the roads are partially covered specifically with anti-drone nets. That's what saves,

Speaker 2

Well, it's not the weather that's saving us. At the very least, FPVs don't fly in this weather. They don't fly either. KABs, in principle, also don't fly much in such weather.

Speaker 1

This is how the city looks now, which is located half a hundred kilometers from the Russian troops. In principle, the kill zone is now expanding to 15, 20, and more than 20 kilometers. FPVs haven't reached here yet, Vasylkivka. But there is no life here. Unfortunately, we didn't see even a dozen locals on the streets or in the yards while driving through the city. This is the kind of emptiness; this is what cities, villages, and settlements in the buffer zone between the kill zone, the front line, and the stele zone, turn into. Vasylkivka accompanies us to the [shchym]. This was safe for our film crew. Villages are being wiped off the land. I noticed that the Ukrainian literature was not evacuated in time. But I hope that with the help of the military, this will still be possible. Because, in a word, it is health.