Zakarpattia offers Ukrainians respite from Russian strikes

Ukraine's western Zakarpattia region has become a rare wartime refuge, with residents of Berehove describing nights without explosions, no wartime curfew and few air-raid alerts while Russian strikes hit other parts of the country.

The region, in the Carpathian foothills near Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, has been relatively unscathed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. It has still been changed by the war, taking in internally displaced Ukrainians and mourning residents killed at the front.

Sergiy Lazarenko, a 54-year-old veteran from Berehove who was wounded in the battle for Bakhmut, said many newcomers had arrived in the town. Lyubov Kyreyeva, who moved from the Kharkiv region in 2022, said her company had relocated to Berehove, rebuilt an abandoned factory and restarted production.

Local resident Tetyana Dub said people could find respite in the Berehove area, but added that the war remained emotionally difficult. During a local ceremony, residents commemorated Ukrainians from Berehove who died defending the country, including one man killed in Bakhmut whose body did not return home.