DISPATCH FROM DNIPRO

‘Compared to some places it’s paradise’: bombed-out Ukrainians sow seeds of recovery

The ruin left by one of Russia’s deadliest civilian strikes is still standing and haunts the people that remain. Some still struggle to look at it

This picture of Anastasia Shvets, sitting in the wreckage of her home, became a defining image of Russia’s winter offensive
This picture of Anastasia Shvets, sitting in the wreckage of her home, became a defining image of Russia’s winter offensive
The Times

It was a winter afternoon when a Russian Kh-22 anti-ship missile slammed into a block of flats in Dnipro, killing 46 people in one of the deadliest strikes on civilians since the start of the Ukraine war.

The attack stood out for its savagery, even among the seemingly endless horrors of Russia’s invasion. The walls of apartments were cleaved apart by the missile, exposing survivors on the upper floors as they clung to the shattered remains of their homes. An image of Anastasia Shvets, 23, sitting in the wreckage of her seventh-floor flat, went viral.

Four months on from the missile strike, the ruins of the nine-floor building on Victory Embankment, overlooking the Dnipro river, are yet to be demolished. The interiors of the flats,