Staying Alive In Mykolaiv

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Mykolaiv was our home base while operating humanitarian missions to nearby Kherson City and Kherson Oblast. The reasoning was simple: hotels existed in Mykolaiv still, and it was much safer than Kherson City. However, it had seen its share of misery and was still undergoing occasional bombings while we stayed there.

In February and March 2022, Russian military forces attacked Mykolaiv and placed it under siege. Ukrainian forces prevailed and eventually barred Russian forces from the city. Though Russian artillery continues to shell it to this day, it was a relatively safe zone for us to spend the night and much safer than Kherson City. It was a charming, if war-scarred, city.

I’ve since met people from Mykolaiv and told them I enjoyed my few days there. However, I must admit what I enjoyed most was breathing a sigh of relief from the constant threat of being blown up by Russian munitions in nearby Kherson City. Despite the scorching heat, I went for a few runs in the park and saw a closed McDonald’s. Later, I’d find out it had been bombed and was closed until further notice. The irony that this beacon of capitalism during the fall of the Soviet Union had been bombed by Russia and forced to close was not lost on me.