Standing by the Native Soil: How the Borova Community Endures the War on the Edge of the Frontline

While the situation on the ground remains incredibly tense and dangerous, the community refuses to give up. The war has split the region along the Oskil River, leaving about 710 residents on the heavily shelled left bank without running water or local services. Living under the constant gaze of hostile drones, these mostly elderly people refuse to leave their family nests, relying on wood stoves and a shared generator turned on for just a few hours a day to call their loved ones.

Meanwhile, the administration works tirelessly from nearby Izium and Kharkiv, keeping touch via online communities, providing financial aid, and relocating labor archives to secure residents' future pensions.

Even under fire, the local spirit remains unbroken: farmers risk their lives on tractors to sow the right bank—sometimes guarding their machinery from drones with rifles—while the community utilizes satellite imagery and military drones for remote damage assessment to process state housing compensations.

Despite the severe destruction of all schools, kindergartens, and administrative buildings, the people of Borova dream of the day of Victory and look forward to rebuilding their homeland, once proudly known as the "Slobozhanska Switzerland."

Read more in the Ukrainian edition....