A man sunbathes at Langeron Beach, the oldest beach in Odesa, on Sept. 6, 2023. (Anastasia Vlasova)
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Before Russia's full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian port city Odesa was a popular summer destination. Every year, tourists would flow from Ukraine and abroad, attracted by its beaches, bustling nightlife, history, and rich local cuisine.
A year-and-a-half into the full-scale war, the city is getting back to its ways — with some changes.
During the day, the city’s beaches and restaurants welcome a growing number of people, now half of the number it enjoyed before the invasion. But every other night, when the curfew starts, Odesa is shaken by air raids, as Russia targets its port terminals to further undermine Ukraine’s ability to export grain.
People walk near the Odesa Opera House, a popular landmark in Odesa, on Sept. 9, 2023. (Anastasia Vlasova)
One of the biggest summer attacks took place on the night of July 22, when the city's main cathedral was damaged.
The Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa, which was severely damaged by a Russian missile attack on July 22, 2023, is seen on Sept. 6, 2023. (Anastasia Vlasova)The ceiling of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa shows the damage caused by the attack in July. (Anastasia Vlasova)An Orthodox priest conducts a service in the Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa on Sept. 6, 2023. After the cathedral was damaged in the mass attack on Odesa in July, a small room was allocated in the cathedral for the services to continue. (Anastasia Vlasova)
Swimming in the sea was officially banned until mid-August, when local authorities announced some beaches, including the popular Langeron Beach, safe enough. That didn’t last long: In late August, the beach was evacuated when swimmers reported spotting what appeared to be a naval mine.
People enjoy the beach at the outskirts of Odesa on Sept. 6, 2023. (Anastasia Vlasova)
Naval mines aren't the only threat. After the Kakhovka Dam was destroyed in June, leading to an environmental disaster, authorities warned that the sea near can be contaminated and bad for swimming.
That didn't discourage locals who wanted to swim in the sea. They frequented the beaches even before the ban was lifted.
A local man, Anatoliy, fishes at the Langeron Beach in Odesa on Sept. 6, 2023. Anatoliy says he comes to the beach every day to swim and fish, despite the threat of naval mines and contamination from the Kakhovka Dam destruction. (Anastasia Vlasova)
Away from the beach, the city's legendary central market, Pryvoz, is bustling with life as it always had.
A woman sells dried fish at Pryvoz, a historical market in central Odesa on Sept. 7, 2023. (Anastasia Vlasova)A woman sells potatoes at the Pryvoz market in central Odesa on Sept. 7, 2023. (Anastasia Vlasova)Freshly harvested fruits sold at the Pryvoz market in central Odesa on Sept. 7, 2023. (Anastasia Vlasova)A stall with women's clothing at the Pryvoz central market in Odesa on Sept. 7, 2023. (Anastasia Vlasova)A salesman takes a nap at the Pryvoz market in Odesa on Sept. 7, 2023. (Anastasia Vlasova)
This summer's attacks, especially intense in July, ruined or damaged dozens of historical buildings in Odesa. One of them was the city's Archaeological Museum, where the ceiling fell recently, following the damage the building had undergone in earlier attacks.
A view of the Archaeological Museum in Odesa that was damaged by a Russian strike in July 2023. (Anastasia Vlasova)A room at the Archaeological Museum in Odesa still bearing severe damage from a Russian strike in July 2023. (Anastasia Vlasova)A sculpture of Grigorios Maraslis, a 19th-century mayor of Odesa, is covered to protect it from damage. The sculpture is installed in the Archaeological Museum in Odesa, which was damaged in a Russian strike this summer. (Anastasia Vlasova)A statue of Russian poet Alexander Pushkin in front of the Pushkin Museum in Odesa is hidden from view on Sept. 7, 2023. While the statues in the city get covered to protect them from damage, hiding Russia-related statues like that of Pushkin is also part of the city shunning away from Russian connections and culture amid the invasion. (Anastasia Vlasova)A woman eats an ice cream in central Odesa on Sept. 7, 2023. (Anastasia Vlasova)A marine academy cadet walking through central Odesa on Sept. 7, 2023. (Anastasia Vlasova)Anti-tank hedgehogs and remains of a barricade are seen in central Odesa on Sept. 7, 2023. (Anastasia Vlasova)A family heads to the beach at the outskirts of Odesa on Sept. 6, 2023. (Anastasia Vlasova)
Anastasia Vlasova is a Ukrainian documentary photographer living in Kyiv.
She has covered the Euromaidan Revolution, Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 near Donetsk for The Kyiv Post in 2013-2017.
Vlasova documents the ongoing Russia’s war against Ukraine for national and international media.Read more
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Luxury perfume seller David Crisp is alleged to have hidden over $2.1 million in illegal sales to Russia. He admitted on camera to "ignoring government edicts."
"The enemy is trying to break through to the south of Donetsk region, where Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts meet," Vladyslav Voloshyn, the spokesperson for the Ukrainian military's Southern Command, said on Nov. 24.
"The world has air defense systems capable of countering such threats," Zelensky said, referring to Russia's new Oreshnik ballistic missile. Experts are currently analyzing the wreckage of the weapon, he said.
"We need to restore deterrence, restore peace, and get ahead of this escalation ladder, rather than responding to it," Mike Waltz, Trump's nominee for national security adviser, said on Nov. 24.
According to the report, at around 6 p.m. on Nov. 21, Russian soldiers entered an apartment in a residential area of Toretsk and "deliberately" opened fire with automatic weapons on three civilians.
Over the past week, Russia has launched over 800 KAB-guided aerial bombs, nearly 460 attack drones, and more than 20 missiles, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Nov. 24.
Ukraine shot down 50 of the 73 drones launched by Russia overnight on Nov. 24, the Air Force reported. There have been no reports of casualties or damage.
According to the report, Russia has also lost 9,423 tanks, 19,209 armored fighting vehicles, 29,864 vehicles and fuel tanks, 20,765 artillery systems, 1,254 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,004 air defense systems, 369 airplanes, 329 helicopters, 19,366 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.
"A Ukrainian victory will serve as the most effective deterrent to future aggression," former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said during the Halifax International Security Forum on Nov. 23.
As Vladimir Putin boasted the new Oreshnik nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile, sparking renewed fears of nuclear escalation, an independent Russian outlet, Mediazona, reported nearly 2,700 additional Russian military deaths in Ukraine over the past two weeks.
In 2024, Russia launched around 60 North Korean KN-23 missiles, accounting for nearly one-third of the 194 ballistic missile strikes tracked by Ukraine’s Air Force.
President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized Group of 20 (G20) leaders on Nov. 23 following the most recent summit in Brazil, adding that Brazilian President Lula da Silva, the current holder of the G20 Presidency, showed a "weak position" on Russia's war in Ukraine.
Russia has damaged 321 port infrastructure facilities, as well as 20 foreign merchant vessels since July 2023, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Nov. 23 at the International Conference on Food Security in Kyiv.
France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the BBC in an excerpt of an interview published on Nov. 23 that Western allies should "not set and express red lines" on providing Ukraine with military support against Russian aggression.
Ukraine has lost over 40 per cent of the territory it previously gained in Russia's Kursk Oblast due to Russian counterattacks, Reuters reported on Nov. 23, citing a source in Ukraine's General Staff.
"When robots began to appear massively on the battlefield, they made any movement of soldiers impossible. The inability to fight robots led to a standstill. We couldn’t move forward towards the Russians, and the Russians, accordingly, couldn’t move forward either," Zaluzhnyi said.
"Yes, that is also the position of the EU Parliament," Metsola said, as quoted by FAZ. "There is broad support for this demand. We will see whether there will be a corresponding change of course after the (German) federal election."
