A Minute to Hide: The Risky Reality of Southern Ukraine’s 2025 Beach Season

While most of Ukraine's seaside resorts remain temporarily occupied and it is difficult to travel abroad with the whole family, more and more Ukrainians are turning their attention to the south — Odesa and Mykolaiv regions. It is here that you can organise a holiday by the sea. But before that, you need to find out several important questions: which beaches are officially open, whether there are shelters nearby, and how safe it is.

Journalists from NikVesti and Odesa Life found out what the 2025 beach season will be like in the south and whether the beaches are ready to welcome holidaymakers.

There will be no sea holidays in Mykolaiv region

Three years ago, the resorts of Mykolaiv region were actively welcoming holidaymakers. These were Ochakiv, Chornomorka, Rybakivka, Luhove, and Morske. Today, all of them are closed to the public because of the mine threat and constant shelling. At the same time, the Kinburn Spit, the most popular for wild recreation, remains occupied.

In Koblevo, another popular resort, it is also impossible to open sea beaches due to sea mines. At the same time, no work is currently being carried out to clear the sea coast, as there is no permission to do so, said Mykola Marinov, deputy head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration for Tourism. As a result, the Koblevecommunity, which was heavily dependent on the tourism business, is going through a difficult time.

«We have been working on the issue of opening the sea with both the military and business, but due to the mine danger, it is now impossible. The sea coast remains mined. Even the most remote areas remain dangerous. Therefore, we are not going to open beaches at sea this season. As soon as the military situation allows, we will be able to start these works,» said Mykola Marinov.

Despite the fact that this year the beaches of the seaside resort are closed, there are still places in Koblevo that are ready to receive holidaymakers, explained Kobleve village head Volodymyr Panych.

«Only 4% of our recreation centres are operating today, mostly those with swimming pools,» said Volodymyr Panych.

Even these recreation centres need to have shelters in order to operate. The village head explained that by 1 June, specialists from the local authorities, together with the State Emergency Service, will be checking them.

In the future, he said, the shelters on Kobleve beaches should be set up by business representatives, as they are interested in visitors. However, Volodymyr Panych clarified that local authorities will also help with this.

«To open the beach season, businesses should work on the shelters, because they are the ones who invite guests (vacationers, — note). Therefore, safety conditions must be maintained for recreation,» said Volodymyr Panych.

Since the sea coast is closed, it is possible to organise your holiday in Mykolaiv region only near rivers and estuaries. There are three main locations in the region:

• Tylihul estuary (on the side of Mykolaiv and Odesa regions);
• Beaches on the banks of the Southern Bug in Mykolaiv;
• Myhiia and Radonove Lake.

Another option is to go to neighbouring Odesa, where more and more beaches are officially opened every year.

Odesa's beaches are being prepared for the season, but there are safety concerns

Today, the coast of Odesa region is the only option for Ukrainian holidaymakers planning their holidays by the sea.

Last season, 24 beaches were officially open to holidaymakers and fully complied with legal requirements. This year, the number is expected to double to 48 beaches. The reason is simple: last year, so many people were holidaying on Odesa's beaches that there were almost no free places left. Therefore, holidaymakers began to visit closed or wild beaches, which is dangerous due to possible shelling and mine drift.

In general, the requirements for opening beaches have not changed over the past three years:

• They must be examined by divers for suspicious objects: mines, shells and other means of fire. This is currently the most serious problem.
• Beaches should be provided with shelters.
• There should be observation and rescue posts on the territory.
• Loudspeakers should be placed there to give timely warnings of air raid alarms.
• In the swimming area, there should be buoys at a distance of no more than 50 metres from the shore.
• Medical stations must be staffed and have the necessary documents.

«Such conditions existed before, but to be honest, before the full-scale invasion, no one paid much attention to it,» said city council member Oleksii Yeremytsia, who agreed to comment on the situation on the beach.

We have submitted official information requests to the Odesa City Council regarding the preparation of the beaches for the 2025 summer season, but we have not yet received a response.

Currently, the city beaches are still being prepared for the season. However, the city council cannot give an exact answer to the question of how many shelters will be along the coast. Some of them are still being installed or built, so the situation will become clearer only when the beach season starts.

At the same time, the city council member emphasises that there will be no bomb shelters on the beaches, because, he says, it is almost impossible to build them on the coast in accordance with all the rules.

«This year, we have already prepared 12 shelters from Lanzheron Beach to Cape Velykyi Fontan. They will be able to save people from various types of ammunition. Unfortunately, we have had terrible examples when the enemy used cluster munitions. Our shelters will be able to protect us from such attacks. But it should be understood that when it comes to ballistics, we can hardly talk about safety in principle,» he explained.

Shelters on the Odesa coast: expectations and reality

All beaches that are open to the public should be provided with shelters, says Alina, a resident of Odesa. She came on holiday to Arcadia with her children and friends.

«We are safety nuts, so it is very important for us that there is a shelter on the beach. But there are problems with this. Even here (near the Red Line resort), where would we run to if an air raid was announced?» the girl says.

She also added that more signs showing the way to the nearest shelter should be installed on city beaches.

«At the very least, there are not enough signs here, and the nearest shelter is far away. They should be close by because a missile takes one minute to fly. We won't even have time to run there. Our children have been taught that if the alarm sounds, they have to run for cover. That is, they cannot sit and watch,» Alina said.

Friends Yuliia and Khrystyna came to Odesa from Kyiv on holiday. They also chose Arcadia for their holiday. They say they do not know where the nearest shelter is and have not seen any signs to it.

«Just yesterday (23 May, — note), the alarm started here and in three minutes there was an explosion. My godson was a bit scared, but we calmed him down. I wanted to run somewhere, but where to run if it had already hit... Of course, there is not enough shelter here. Because when you walk with children, you are responsible not only for yourself. We always go down to the shelter. Because even in Kyiv, you saw how it came the other day,» Yuliia says.

How long does it take to find shelter on an Odesa beach?

Depending on its type, an enemy missile can reach Odesa in 1-8 minutes. Therefore, shelters should be located in close proximity to the city's beaches so that holidaymakers can reach them quickly.

While working on the material, we conducted an experiment to find out how quickly the most popular beaches in Odesa — Arcadiia and Lanzheron — could be reached by holidaymakers.

First of all, we checked whether it would be possible to quickly navigate and find a shelter using external directions. However, it turned out to be problematic.

• at the Arcadiia beach, it took us about 2 minutes to find a shelter — and that was under favourable conditions, as we knew where the shelter was probably located.
• at the Lanzheron beach, the situation was worse: we spent 23 minutes looking for a shelter. The closest was in the hotel «M1». The hotel «Nemo» also has a shelter, and it is open during the alarm. However, we did not see any arrows leading there.

If you don't know the area and don't see any signs nearby, you will need the internet to try to find a shelter through official resources:

• Diia — is available in almost every smartphone. But it can be difficult to navigate because the map does not show the sea. This is disorienting on the beach. In addition, it shows only one shelter on the coast — next to the beach «Dolphin».
• Misto is an urban app. Unlike «Diia», it shows the sea, but there are no signs of shelters on the beaches.
• The map of shelters on the Odesa City Hall website is very clumsy, especially on mobile. We do not see any markings of shelters on the coast either.

As a result of our experiment, we did find a shelter. But we can say that it was more in spite of than with the help of official tips.

Shelters on beaches — whose responsibility?

The Department of Engineering Protection of the City Territory and Coastal Development is responsible for safety on Odesa city beaches. As for commercial beaches, it is the responsibility of the lessee of the beach plots to comply with all the requirements for opening. In particular, they must ensure that there is a shelter no more than 500 metres from the beach. If the beach is large and has several tenants, they must jointly arrange a shelter there.

However, in most cases, this is done by local authorities, says MP Oleksii Yeremytsia: «The tenant will simply never pay for it. He earns at best 3.5 months (per year). What kind of economy does it have to be for a tenant to build a shelter?»

Here's an example: installing a modular shelter that meets all the requirements and can accommodate 50 people costs about 3.5 million hryvnias. However, this number of places is not enough, as one beach can accommodate more than 100 people in a season.

So a logical question arises: what to do? One could, of course, imagine handing out coupons at the entrance to the beach or limiting the number of people entering the beach to 50. It sounds absurd. But the problem remains, and so far no one has come up with an effective solution.

Safety on the beaches of Odesa region: the season started with shelling

Before the full-scale invasion, people from all over Ukraine came to Serhiivka and Zatoka in the summer, so we decided to find out whether the beaches in the region are safe this season. Back on 16 May, we sent a request to the Odesa Military Administration to clarify the current security situation on the beaches of Odesa region. As of the time of publication, we have not received a response.

We decided to use the Booking platform to see if hotels and recreation centres in the resort towns were open. For example, in Zatoka, hotels and recreation centres have already opened bookings despite the destruction caused by Russian strikes. From 14 to 22 June, 71 accommodation options are available on Booking for two adults and a child. Prices range from 6,500 hryvnias to more than 50,000 hryvnias per night.

As potential clients, we contacted several hotels via Booking to ask if there were shelters and if it was allowed to swim in the sea. Unfortunately, we did not receive any written answers. So they had to make a phone call — under the legend «a mother and her children want to relax by the sea» and with a focus on safety. The employees' answers were not very reassuring: there are no shelters. According to them, the specifics of the area do not allow for the construction of full-fledged bomb shelters, and businesses lack the funds to buy mobile shelters. However, some establishments are not only operating, but also developing infrastructure — repairing roads, setting up car parks, swimming pools, and playgrounds.

A representative of one of the hotels explained that officially, the access to the beaches is blocked by ribbons, signs, and concrete barriers. There are warnings everywhere: «Swimming is prohibited». There is no access to the coast from recreation centres. However, tourists still find a way around, says our source from the hotel. And some of these workarounds are even shown to holidaymakers when they check in.

As a reminder, the military's ban on visiting beaches in these areas has not yet been lifted. As stated in the order of the Karolino-Buhaz village council: the coast is closed due to the threat to life and health. Only the military and those performing special tasks have access. We sent a request to the Karolino-Buhaz village council to explain the security situation on the beaches, but we did not receive a response. We also did not receive a response from the Serhiivka village council. In a telephone conversation, a hotel representative confirmed that the beach is officially closed, and swimming is only possible in the estuary.

So, the issue of security remains open. The shelling of the coast does not stop: On 1 June, at the start of the season, Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi district came under fire again: drones hit residential buildings and a recreation centre building. There were no casualties, said Oleh Kiper, head of the RMA, on his Telegram channel.

Now the state cannot guarantee safety — neither on the beach nor anywhere else in Ukraine. We will only see how effective the local authorities have been in terms of safety once the beach season starts. So far, officials report active preparations. Local businesses are also involved in the process, although they often need help and support.

Each of us must understand that we must take care of our own safety. When planning a summer holiday, find out in advance whether there are shelters near the beach where you plan to go. If there is a landlord there, write to him on social media and ask him to send you a map with the route to the shelter. Ask local publics what the situation is. Take half an hour before you go on holiday to get your bearings and find out where to go in case of an alarm. Follow the instructions — if you see posters like «The beach is closed» or «Swimming is prohibited», this is not just a warning, but an important warning.

And once again, the obvious, but important thing: do not ignore air raid warnings. Because no shelter will save you if relaxed holidaymakers decide to stay on the sand with the thought «It will pass somehow».

The article was written by Yuliia Boichenko and Olena Kudriashova.