Nikolaev has been without running water for a week. Now another Russian missile has bent an electric pole at an angle of 60 degrees, no doubt cutting off the power supply to many people.
Damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure from the war is already estimated at $ 100 billion (£ 77 billion).
The Ministry of Infrastructure says 300 bridges have been damaged or destroyed, and 8,000 km (nearly 5,000 miles) of roads are in need of repair, along with dozens of railway bridges.
But the human cost is incalculable, and the constant bombing of the city of Nikolaev takes its toll.
Image: A Russian rocket has bent an electric pole to a 60-degree angle
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No one was killed in the latest blast, which also destroyed commercial properties, but there are currently nearly 300 people in hospitals in Nikolaev who are being treated for wounds caused by Russian attacks in the region.
Many families have decided it’s time to leave.
Olena Sigeti and her family are waiting in a parking lot for a bus that will take the refugees to Moldova and then to other European countries.
She says: “It is too dangerous to be here. In the neighborhood where we live, we can hear echoes of active fighting. Unfortunately, we decided to leave. It’s unbearable. You can’t put it in two words. We were born here. We live here. “
Image: A child holds a teddy bear while the young man prepares to leave Nikolaev
Along with pressure from the Russian military in the east, they are also gathering troops on the western front in the south and are expected to try to push along the coast to Nikolaev.
Image: Couple embracing in Nikolaev
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The Kolegina family arrives at the parking lot in a dirt-covered minibus that transported them from the 40-kilometer (25-mile) Russian-occupied area of Chernobayevka.
Image: The situation on the 55th day of the war in Ukraine
“There are Russians there now,” said mother Anna Kolegina. She describes life in a house with walls cracked by nearby explosions, the whole family sleeping in the basement. The adults left the house only to buy food.
She says: “There is shelling every day. They go from house to house. So we took our children and decided to move to a safer place.”
Image: Natasha Sigeti said: “It’s really stressful. We don’t want to leave.
Salam Alden, founder and CEO of Team Humanity, which organizes buses to Moldova, told Sky News: “You see that everything is women and children, look at them. They have done nothing wrong. They did not hurt anyone.
“They have to leave their country, their homes, their families, their fathers, their husbands, their brothers.”
It is true that while women and children can leave, their husbands and sons are often or are preparing to go to the front line. Tears flow as families say their final goodbyes.
Natasha Sigeti’s husband has been training with the military for three weeks and is almost ready to go to the front line.
Preparing to take the bus to Moldova, she said: “It’s really stressful. We don’t want to leave. But today, when there were a lot of explosions near our neighborhood, and then we finally decided to leave.”
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Her friend Ulyana Vekman added: “Besides, my husband will defend the country – and so will her husband.”
Many do not know where they are going and for how long. Or what will be here for them if they ever return.
This is a goodbye like no other.
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