Just 3.5 Kilometers From the Enemy: Ochakiv, a Resort Turned Frontline Town

In 3.5 kilometres, the Kinburn Spit is already in sight. We are standing in Ochakiv. It used to be a resort town where people went for peace, but now it's a place where «peace» is measured by the number of downed FPV drones.

NikVesti came to Ochakiv to show how the frontline city lives today.

Why are Ochakiv and Kinburn important to Russia?

We are standing on an observation deck in Ochakiv. It offers a view of the occupied Kinburn Spit, which is located directly opposite us — 3.5 kilometres across the estuary. This area is already considered dangerous because it is visible and often shelled by the Russian military. That's why our stay there was short.

There is a deserted park and a monument to the Russian commander Oleksandr Suvorov. It is to be demolished, says Deputy Mayor Oleksii Vaskov. The city authorities conducted a survey that showed that 55.7% of Ochakiv residents want the monument dismantled and moved to a museum. Another 28.7 per cent believe that it should be left in place.

But the monument to Suvorov still stands in its place. The Russian commander points his finger directly at the Kinburn Spit. «He shows us where the enemy is and where we need to go», say Ochakiv residents.

In fact, this stretch of estuary between Ochakiv and the Kinburn Spit is strategically important for Ukrainian shipping. In fact, it is a corridor, the opening of which will not only allow Mykolaiv ports to be put into operation, but also to use all the port capacities of the south to the maximum.

Ochakiv and the Kinburn Spit have always been of great strategic importance for shipping, defence and control over the north-western part of the Black Sea. It is here that the Dnipro-Bug estuary and the Black Sea converge, the main artery through which the Ukrainian ports of Mykolaiv, Kherson and Ochakiv have access to global trade routes.

As long as the Kinburn Spit remains a war zone, access to part of the water area is limited. This affects not only logistics, but also economic security — without stable shipping through the Ochakiv channel, Ukraine cannot fully use its seaports in the south.

If we go back in history, Ochakiv has always been a point of control over access to the sea. Back in the days of the Ottoman Empire and Russian expansion in the 18th century, fierce battles were fought over it. Whoever controls Ochakiv effectively controls access to the Dnipro and all of Ukraine's inland shipping.

In a broader sense, this also has a geopolitical dimension. A principle similar to the Monroe Doctrine is now manifested in the way states seek to protect their regions from external influence. For Ukraine, control over Ochakiv and Kinburn means a guarantee of free access to the Black Sea, the ability to independently determine its maritime policy and prevent other forces from dominating the coastal waters.

In essence, for Ukraine, this area is a kind of «entry point» into the global trade and security system of the Black Sea. Without control over Ochakiv and the Kinburn Spit, it is impossible to talk about full-fledged shipping and the restoration of port logistics in the south.

«All types of weapons were tested on us». What do you know about life in Ochakiv now?

«How do you live here?», we ask a woman who sat down to rest on a bench along a pedestrian alley. Instantly, cats and dogs ran up to her, waiting for food. She took out a bag of food.

There is not a single building around us that has survived — windows are smashed and roofs are damaged. Even the animals here look different — they are exhausted from the shelling.

«It's hard for us (Ochakiv residents, — note) because we can't go to the beach. We used to go and get healthy, but now we can't», was the first thing a woman jokingly told us.

Ochakiv is shelled every day. «All types of weapons were tested on us», says Deputy Mayor Oleksii Vaskov. The Russian military is now launching FPV drones and reconnaissance aircraft at the city every day, firing artillery and attacking with various types of missiles. It is through Ochakiv that most of the Shahed drones that Russia is firing at Ukraine are flying.

«It is impossible to get used to this. We're all nervous here, we don't sleep well at night. But where can we go? This is our home», says resident Tatiana about life in Ochakiv.

After a short pause, she adds: «But, you see, our town is clean, all the services are working, cleaning up. Although, of course, the city has become gloomy».

As of today, 70% of the buildings in the city have been destroyed or damaged, the mayor of Ochakiv, Serhii Bychkov, told us in his office. These are private houses, high-rise buildings and infrastructure facilities.

«Windows have been smashed in almost all buildings. I think only 10% of the buildings are intact», he added.

Only this 10% managed to survive the biggest shelling of Ochakiv in January 2023. Back then, the shelling of the city was so intense that the residents of Mykolaiv felt the blast wave. To better understand how strong the explosion in Ochakiv was, people in a coffee shop in the centre of Mykolaiv fell to the floor, convinced that shelling had started nearby.

«After that large-scale explosion, windows flew out of almost all our houses and the roofs were damaged,» said Deputy Mayor Oleksii Vaskov.

Now the damaged housing is being repaired only at the expense of the city budget and thanks to donors,» emphasises Mayor Serhii Bychkov: «Unfortunately, we are not included in the programme «eVidnovlennia». Because the Cabinet of Ministers' programme does not apply to places that are in the combat zone».

«We are not building walls or installing windows yet. This is done by donors, if they are willing to do it. We are only repairing roofs and sewing up windows with OSB panels. It is impossible to cover everything.

There are houses that have been hit four times. We repaired the roof, a month later it hit again, then six months later. These are vulnerable areas», said Serhii Bychkov.

Despite this, people continue to live in their damaged homes. «They have nowhere to go», the mayor explains. Instead of windows, there are OSB boards in the houses, and the people of Ochakiv live in basements. They say it is safer.

«Every high-rise building has a basement, which people somehow equip and go down there», the mayor added.

Shelters are still being repaired and equipped throughout the city. Over the past four years, about 100 million hryvnias has been spent from the city budget, says Serhii Bychkov. Donors also help by bringing in ground shelters.

These shelters can protect Ochakiv residents from FPV drones, which Russians launch at the city from the occupied Kinburn Spit every day. Most of them manage to «land» in the estuary, but there are those that reach the city and find their civilian targets: people, animals, houses, apartments.

95% of them crash. FPV drones flying at Ochakiv from the spit

Even during a 20-minute conversation with the mayor, an FPV drone was already heading toward the city. The alert came to the mayor’s phone. He picked it up and announced, «Oh, an FPV is coming.» A minute later, he added with a smile, «No FPV. It fell».

Each of these «has fallen» means that the drone is probably already at the bottom of the estuary and Ochakiv residents can continue to live their lives until the next nearest danger: go to work, to the store, study, take a walk.

«We are working to protect them. To give you an idea, 95% of FPV drones crash. If everyone flew here, we would be screwed», the mayor added.

Nevertheless, a certain number of FPV drones reach Ochakiv almost every day. Civilians, local residents and their homes are among the victims. This can be seen in the daily morning reports of the Mykolaiv RMA:

«Yesterday, the enemy attacked Ochakiv and the coastal area with FPV drones 12 times. A 47-year-old woman and an 18-year-old boy were wounded and hospitalised. In the morning, the condition of the victims is stable, of moderate severity. A private house was also damaged».

This is one of the vivid proofs that despite the fact that drones can land in the estuary, a considerable number of them still reach the city.

According to the mayor, instead of installing protective nets around the city, Ochakiv should be provided with electronic warfare equipment.

«Look, protective nets are good, but they can be penetrated. The first drone breaks through, the second enters. If there is a net, they can see it. This is unnecessary attention. But I think it's better to provide electronic warfare systems — modern installations that already exist. This is money. Let them fall into the water or into the shore somewhere, rather than flying around the city looking for our nets», the mayor explained.

After a pause, the mayor added: «But there are some issues in places where it is necessary to completely block the entrance to the city or some road, because it is dangerous there. They shoot there so that it is impossible to drive through. This is another issue».

An interesting feature of the city that we noticed is that every second resident of Ochakiv moves around either on a speed bike with a motor or on a moped. We also saw training cars on the streets — despite the proximity to the frontline, driving schools operate there.

Today, the city is home to about 7,500 people. This is half of the pre-war population, said Mayor Serhii Bychkov.

«The number of people has been changing every four years, but based on the distribution of humanitarian aid, we have about the same number of adults and children», he added.

«There is a lack of staff». How does the local hospital work?

All this time, the only hospital in the town has been operating — the Ochakiv Multidisciplinary Hospital. It provides various services to the residents.

«We have therapy, neurology, surgery, and an infectious diseases department. The polyclinic provides outpatient care. We also have a diagnostic department: Ultrasound, fibrogastroscopy, ophthalmology», says Valerii Knitel, head physician.

If there are victims of shelling in Ochakiv, they are first taken to the local hospital. Here they are given first aid, stabilised and, if necessary, taken to hospitals in Mykolaiv or Odesa.

«It depends on the case, on the severity of the», the head physician added.

Together with him, we went down to inspect the shelters. On the way, he told us that the biggest problem the hospital faces now is the lack of doctors. For obvious reasons, young specialists do not want to come to a frontline city to work in a local hospital.

«Of course, there is a shortage of staff. We have only one surgeon. We need at least two or three. There is no cardiologist», says Valerii Knitel and adds that the hospital currently employs 124 people.

We went down to the shelter. There are many rooms along the long corridor. Six of them are wards with 20 beds. In general, this is enough to ensure the safety of patients, says the chief doctor. There are also rooms for receiving patients, such as a manipulation and dressing room. There are also showers, toilets and an invincibility point.

Over the four years of its operation, the hospital's windows have been shattered several times as a result of shelling in Ochakiv, says the chief doctor.

«The hospital itself was not directly shelled, but when there was a powerful explosion, the windows flew out. When there was an air raid near the canteen, all the windows were blown out. We had to replace all 150 windows», said Valerii Knitel.

We need to replace 180 km of the network. What is the situation with water?

On the way back from the hospital, we stop at one of the city streets. Utilities are replacing the water supply system there — they are laying about 1 kilometre of new pipes. There are three workers and equipment on site. An excavator is digging a trench to replace the pipes.

«We are now pulling a new water supply line from the main highway to this street to provide people with water. Then people will install a meter in their neighbourhoods,» says Deputy Mayor Oleksii Vaskov.

In total, 180 kilometres of the network that supplies water to Ochakiv residents are underground.

«Almost all of them are out of order, they are about 50 years old. That's why the quality of water decreases when it flows not through plastic but through iron, which is already worn out. We are partially replacing them, but we cannot say that tomorrow we will wake up and replace all the kilometres. We need to dig up the entire city. That's why we're replacing parts of it — streets, neighbourhoods», explained Ochakiv Mayor Serhii Bychkov.

The water itself comes to the city from a 100-metre deep well. «The water is good, only slightly calcified and hard», says the mayor.

In general, the replacement of the entire underground water supply system requires significant funds. «This is not even 10 annual budgets of the city», added Serhii Bychkov.

«There is no perfect picture. Laying a pipe is not just a pipe. It includes wells, valves, infrastructure, sidewalks, and green space. It takes time and a lot of money. I don't even want to name the amount, but it's a lot. But we are working a little bit, every year we change 2-3 kilometres and keep moving,» the mayor added.

Almost half of the city hall staff had to be laid off. What is happening to the budget of Ochakiv?

Funds for this are allocated, among other things, from the city budget. Although the situation with it is difficult after the military tax was withdrawn.

«We have lost 87% of our budget. We were dependent on personal income tax, the military, and the SSU», the mayor explained.

Because of this, the city council had to lay off 43% of its employees. «We were forced to do this because we did not have enough money», he added.

«Of course, some of these people left. They were counted in the workforce, but they were idle. Some people retired, some people resigned on their own, some were made redundant and paid compensation. Here, the approach to everyone was individual. But unfortunately, this happened», said Serhii Bychkov.

The city used to host tourists, there were recreation centres, yachts and boats taking people to the protected Kinburn Spit. This also brought money to the city budget.

«It was a resort business. That is, 90% (of the business) was the resort», added the mayor of Ochakiv.

Now the situation is different — the tourism business is at a standstill, most recreation centres and water transport are destroyed. Because of this, Ochakiv's budget is losing about 45-50% of what it received before the war.

«These were payments for land, resorts, and so on. Our pre-war budget was about 170 million hryvnias, then at the beginning of the war it was about 300 million hryvnias, and now it is about 75-80 million hryvnias», said Serhii Bychkov.

What businesses are working?

«What businesses continue to operate in Ochakiv?», we asked the mayor.

«Only ATB, trade. Some farmers also live in the town, but they work outside the town because we have no agricultural land. But they pay taxes here if they are registered here. The situation is like this», he explained.

The state of business in Ochakiv today is vividly illustrated by the destroyed elevators of a local enterprise. They were built in 2004. Back then, no one could even guess that exactly 20 years later, a Russian missile would hit them and destroy the tanks with tonnes of grain.

«In fact, the metre-high walls of the warehouse were blown away like a sheet of paper. Luckily, the guard had moved away and was only concussed. If he had been somewhere closer, there would have been victims», added Deputy Mayor Serhii Bychkov.

Today, the area with the destroyed elevators is overgrown with grass. Private houses around the area still stand with broken windows and damaged roofs.

In a conversation with the mayor, we raised the topic of reconstruction. «Such issues are not being raised now», the mayor immediately said.

«Wherever we turn (to international partners, donors — ed.) and say that we are in a war zone, we are told «let's do it later». For now, let's do what is important: shelter, drinking water, hospital, housing, business», he said.

Instead, the mayor added, the issue of international support for demining is being raised.

«The entire coastline of Ochakiv is mined now — its length is about 10 kilometres. And no one knows what is floating in the water. The Kinburn Spit is also mined, on the other side. They are also mining», said Serhii Bychkov.

Due to the security situation, we were unable to film the full picture of life in Ochakiv. After all, much of what we wanted to film is now a closed zone: houses and recreation centres, boats and yachts located along the coast. This area is being monitored and shelled by the enemy. As soon as we got to Ochakiv, the mayor immediately told us: «This is the coastline, you will not be allowed to go there». But it's not hard to guess what we would have seen there — traces of shelling, destroyed piers, boats and houses, and a sea that now resembles a frontline rather than a holiday.

Ochakiv today shows how life can go on where it should have stopped. People here are getting used to shelling, but not to hopelessness. They are repairing water pipes, rebuilding the hospital and setting up shelters — just to be able to stay at home.

Between these destroyed streets and the mined coastline is a border that affects not only the city. Control over Ochakiv is Ukraine's right to its own sea. And this right is being defended here every day — not only by the military, but also by those who choose to stay there, at home.

Yuliia Boichenko, NikVesti