Far postcards are a weekly series in which the international NPR team shares snapshots of moments of their lives and work around the world.
Even last Wednesday afternoon – a working day – Lanzheron d’Odesa beach was thrilled. A toddler in a ballerina swimsuit clung to an inflatable unicorn. A man has been fell close to two swans slipping on the waves. A woman meditated in the sun. In the legendary port city of Ukraine, the salty breeze wore the splashes and laughter of an carefree summer.
Ukraine defends himself from a large -scale Russian invasion for three and a half years. Russia attacking Ukrainian cities, including Odesa, almost every evening, Ukrainians work to make life normal.
Even if it means breaking the law. When I visited this beach for the first time in 2022, during the first year of the invasion, swimming was prohibited because of the floating mines in the Black Sea. The police patrolled the beach. I met a 90 -year -old man, then named Halyna Druz, who ignored them. She had been swimming here for 40 years. Odesa was still free. Abandon the beach, she said, would like to capitulate the Russians.
The swimming prohibition has since been lifted. I did not find Halyna on the beach when I returned there last week, but I could feel his joy of living among the Fechers by taking advantage of this respite.
The following night, Russian drones again attacked Odesa.
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