Inside a Ukrainian village where farmers stay for the wheat harvest but fear Russian attack

Inside a Ukrainian village where farmers stay for the wheat harvest but fear Russian attack

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The wheat has been sown for the coming season but nobody in Yakovlivka, a small farming village outside Kharkiv in north eastern Ukraine, knows if it will be harvested.

A week after Russian forces launched their invasion on Feb. 24, the village was bombed. The head of the village administration said four people were killed and 11, including children, wounded in the attack.

. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter
Nina climbs out of the storage cellar where the family hid.

"We were sitting in our cellar for four hours and read the Lord's Prayer. We wrapped the kids into blankets and just couldn't fall asleep until three or four in the morning," said Nina Bonderenko, who works on her cousin's farm.

. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter
Nina and other locals help their neighbour clean up her yard after an aerial bomb exploded across the street.

Villagers said the attack may have been aimed at a unit of Ukrainian soldiers camping temporarily in the village school, although apart from some broken windows, the building was undamaged by the blasts.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the villagers' account of the bombing.

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Russia has denied targetting civilians in what it calls a "special operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" its neighbour. Ukraine and its allies dismiss that as a baseless pretext for war.

Since the village was bombed, residents say all certainty has been lost.

. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter
An aerial view shows a tractor spreading fertiliser on a wheat field near the village of Yakovlivka.

"We have planted all the wheat. But will we be able to grow

anything and harvest it under the current circumstances?" said

Vadim Aleksandrovich, director of "Granary of Sloboda" a farming company that emerged from a former Soviet-era collective farm.

"Only God knows. We are doing our best."

. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter
Local farmer Bogdan poses with his gun as he mans a checkpoint outside the village of Yakovlivka after it was hit by an aerial bombardmen.

With the country at war, the uncertainty facing Yakovlivka is shared across the country by farmers who produce the grain that has historically made Ukraine, the world's fifth biggest wheat exporter, one of the great breadbaskets of the world.

Last season, Granary of Sloboda's harvest amounted to 3,000 tons of wheat, 3,000 tons of sunflower and 1,000 tons of corn. But at the moment, 80% of the firm's 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) are not accessible because of mines or combat operations, Aleksandrovich said.

. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter
A farm worker looks at a rocket that had landed in a field at a tractor yard.

Only the fields immediately around Yakovlikva village can be reached relatively safely and there is heavy fighting around the firm's seed storage facility at its base in Izyum, some 140 km away, he said.

Before farm workers can go out to the fields, they call emergency services to find out if the area is safe. When rockets land in the fields, explosives disposal services remove any projectiles.

. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Left: Ivan Bonderenko and his grandsons Marat and Renat push a bale of hay.
Right: A palm tree a local man made out of plastic bottles stands outside his property.

"The situation is very tense, and it is unclear what will happen to us," Aleksandrovich said. "We don't even know what will happen in one hour."

Despite the uncertainty, most of the villagers have remained, refusing to join a national exodus that has seen around a quarter of the country's population of 44 million flee their homes.

Of 533 permanent residents before the war, 380 have stayed, with refugees from outside boosting the population to 436, according to local authorities.

. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter
Villagers Vera Babenko and Alla Hudz walk with their neighbours in a street that is lined by the debris of destroyed houses.

Although the village shop has closed, people have started to patch up the damaged houses that can still be repaired.

"I thought I could live my last days in peace and then this," said 66 year-old Vera Babenko, picking a bowl out from under a pile of rubble by her now door-less refrigerator.

. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Left: Vera stands in the place where her kitchen used to be.
Right: Vera Babenko sits inside her house.

She said a bomb landed just beside her house, about 200 metres from the school the attack was apparently supposed to hit but she said she had no plans to leave.

"I want to rebuild my kitchen."

(Photo Editing Gabrielle Fonseca Johnson; Writing James Mackenzie, Text Editing Frances Kerry; Layout Kezia Levitas)

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Slideshow

Marat and Renat stand in the living room of their neighbours' house, which was hit by a projectile.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Marat and Renat stand in the living room of their neighbours' house, which was hit by a projectile.

Nina pushes a wheelbarrow as she takes care of her cousin's farm.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Nina pushes a wheelbarrow as she takes care of her cousin's farm.

Anya takes care of her cousin's farm.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Anya takes care of her cousin's farm.

Nina helps her son, who attends online classes as schools closed since the start of the war, with his homework.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Nina helps her son, who attends online classes as schools closed since the start of the war, with his homework.

Farmer Ivan Bonderenko reacts in exasperation as he watches the Russian state TV evening news with this daughter Anya and grandson Renat. The family watches some Russian state TV news every day "so we understand what the enemy thinks and can compare their lies to our own reality," Ivan said.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Farmer Ivan Bonderenko reacts in exasperation as he watches the Russian state TV evening news with this daughter Anya and grandson Renat. The family watches some Russian state TV news every day "so we understand what the enemy thinks and can compare their lies to our own reality," Ivan said.

A picture shows local farmer Ivan (bottom R) surrounded by Russian comrades when he served in the Soviet Army stationed in Hungary.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

A picture shows local farmer Ivan (bottom R) surrounded by Russian comrades when he served in the Soviet Army stationed in Hungary.

The carcass of a gold fish, which neighbours said died the night the house was hit during an aerial bombardment, floats in an aquarium.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

The carcass of a gold fish, which neighbours said died the night the house was hit during an aerial bombardment, floats in an aquarium.

Alexander, 24 and his friend Stanislav, 13, fish in the village lake.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Alexander, 24 and his friend Stanislav, 13, fish in the village lake.

An aerial view shows destroyed houses in the village of Yakovlivka.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

An aerial view shows destroyed houses in the village of Yakovlivka.

Farm worker, Vitaliy, drives a tractor pulling a plow on a field.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Farm worker, Vitaliy, drives a tractor pulling a plow on a field.

A local farm worker unloads Ukrainian made fertiliser from a truck.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

A local farm worker unloads Ukrainian made fertiliser from a truck.

Local farmer Evgeniy poses with his gun as he mans a checkpoint outside the village.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Local farmer Evgeniy poses with his gun as he mans a checkpoint outside the village.

A general view shows a destroyed house in the village of Yakovlivk.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

A general view shows a destroyed house in the village of Yakovlivk.

Workers install internet cables after an aerial bombardment damaged communication wires in the village.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Workers install internet cables after an aerial bombardment damaged communication wires in the village.

Petra Bukreyev (C) eats dinner with his sister's grandson and another relative.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Petra Bukreyev (C) eats dinner with his sister's grandson and another relative.

Jars of preserved food are seen in the six square metre storage cellar below the kitchen where the Bonderenko family hid for the night during an aerial bombardment.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Jars of preserved food are seen in the six square metre storage cellar below the kitchen where the Bonderenko family hid for the night during an aerial bombardment.

Vera sits in her yard after an aerial bomb exploded outside her farm.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Vera sits in her yard after an aerial bomb exploded outside her farm.

Village resident Alla Hudz, whose 31-year-old son Andrii died in an aerial bombardment that destroyed their home, stands by her house.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Village resident Alla Hudz, whose 31-year-old son Andrii died in an aerial bombardment that destroyed their home, stands by her house.

A man smokes in his car in the village of Yakovlivka.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

A man smokes in his car in the village of Yakovlivka.

A general view shows a destroyed house.
. Yakovlivka, Ukraine. Reuters/Thomas Peter

A general view shows a destroyed house.