Getting to Novoraisk, a small steppe community center, is now almost impossible to do on your own. The community has long been considered one of the most dangerous due to constant artillery shelling and drones.
Novoraisk greets with silence and an unexpectedly large number of people in the streets. Women wear black headscarves, men wear dark clothing. Today the village is burying people who were killed the day before by Russians who struck a car on the road with an FPV drone.
People walk silently past a stall where you can buy cold lemonade or a hot dog. It all looks surreal.
We go out to the outskirts of the village. It’s only nine kilometers to the Dnipro, and therefore to the frontline. Six kilometers away is the Novovorontsovka–Beryslav road, and another three is Chervony Mayak — a village of the Novoraisk community located on the demarcation line.
«During the Russian occupation, enemy military equipment was stationed here», – shows the head of the Novoraisk rural military administration (SVA) Mykola Chystikov at an open caponier – a fortification in the form of a ditch adapted to house military equipment (usually a tank) and to fire from different directions.
«For now, – says Mykola Chystikov, – we are preserving this caponier. In case our military needs it. And after our victory we will fill it in so there’s not a trace left, so there is not even a memory that a war was fought here».
The last time MOST correspondents visited Novoraisk was in winter 2024. The then head of the military administration Oleksandr Shokurov told in an interview about intentions to restore peaceful life in the relatively safe part of the community. He spoke about the desire to equip a school in the surviving building of the kindergarten, and over time to restore the school itself — heavily damaged but suitable for reconstruction.
Unfortunately, on September 25, 2024 Oleksandr Shokurov suddenly died at the age of 59. In January 2025 the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky appointed a new head of the Novoraisk rural military administration. It became Mykola Chystikov, who had previously worked as deputy head of the Kalynivska SVA of Beryslav district.
And these are far from the only changes that have occurred in the Novoraisk rural community since our previous visits.
«It has become more difficult», – says Mykola Chystikov about a little more than half a year in his current post. The changes that have occurred – are not for the better. First and foremost, it is a deterioration of the security situation, which prevents many intentions from being implemented.
Main in the village – the resilience point
Points of resilience operate here and serve as a kind of center of social life. Among the damaged houses there is a place where you can collect water, charge your phone and even receive administrative services. There is even a temporary accommodation point for civilians whom volunteers and police evacuate from the most dangerous settlements of Beryslav district: Zmiivka, Beryslav, etc.
Mykola Chystikov says that Novoraisk is still relatively safe compared with settlements located on the banks of the Dnipro and almost daily shelled by Russian forces.
«Here, – the head of the Novoraisk SVA says, – people have the opportunity to rest, take a shower. They receive humanitarian food kits necessary for preparing meals during their stay with us. The duration of stay – several days, depending on what evacuation-related issues people need to resolve. And then they move on to new places of residence».
There is also a water purification system installed here – vital for the village, because the quality of water from the wells leaves much to be desired, and the same security situation does not allow for regularly transporting drinking water to Novoraisk.
«We hope for the best»
A man rides up on a bicycle to the device that residents of Novoraisk use to collect drinking water to fill two five-liter jugs.
«Our norm is thirty liters per day per person, but our family consumes less», – says this village resident, whose name is Volodymyr.
When asked about the situation in the village and whether residents want to leave, the man replies: «We’re managing for now, and we’ll see what happens next. Russian drones fly in almost every day, but we’ve kind of gotten used to it. This is home, the household. We work here, we grow wheat. We live here and for now we will continue to live here. Shops are open. Despite the Russians being nearby, the village lives on. We hope for the best».
Volodymyr says that many residents of Novoraisk stay in the village, but he admits that there are those who decided to move to safer territories with better conditions. Primarily, these are young and relatively young people who have children, because the absence of a school in the village is a significant factor that encourages seeking a better fate.
«There are few young people in the village, almost no children. And that’s bad», – the man laments.
Per week – 5-7 FPV drones
Mykola Chystikov says that over six months Russian forces fired more than 850 munitions at Novoraisk – artillery shells and FPV drones.
«Our biggest problem, – he says, – is enemy drones. They trouble us more than artillery and aerial bombs. Each week 5-7 drones fly to us. Over the last four months three civilians have died as a result of drone attacks. Two of them yesterday – the driver and passenger of a car who were going to the hospital. They almost reached Novoraisk. One of them died on the spot, the second died on the way to the hospital. When medics and State Emergency Service workers were working at the scene of the tragedy, the Russians attacked them too, damaging the medics’ vehicle».
Then the Russians dropped explosives on the policemen who arrived to collect the deceased.
Recently the number of village residents killed as a result of Russian aggression increased. On the evening of August 19, 2025 Russian forces shelled Novoraisk with multiple rocket launchers. A 48-year-old man was killed.
The head of the SVA shows huge craters and damaged houses after this shelling literally on the neighboring street.
According to Mykola Chystikov, the local authorities have created an alert system for shelling and drone attacks. Residents receive information about danger and take shelter. But it is impossible to avoid casualties entirely.
The local authorities provide assistance to people whose homes suffer as a result of enemy shelling and drone attacks: roofing sheets and boards for repairs.
Chervony Mayak
“They shell there every day and don’t care whether elderly people live there. And he sees, the bastard, that she is already standing, raises her hands and shows that she is a woman. A woman! They still drop an ‘incendiary’, it starts to burn, she begins to scream, people run, they cannot put it out because another one will come and drop one more”, – emotionally recounts the headman Oleksandr Vorony about life in the village Chervony Mayak.
We met him in the center of the village, together with three fellow villagers. People came to the community center on business, and will soon return home.
According to them, the village is almost gone — the Russians are burning what remains.
“Right now a house is burning — there were several hits”, – says a young man.
The streets of Chervony Mayak are densely covered with ash, so much so that a moped’s wheels sink into it. During the day it is impossible to move around the village by other transport.
Local women, whom Vorony leads, extinguish the fires. He calls them “grannies”.
“I’m their commander, I see that a field is burning — we start digging trenches to knock down the flames”, – he shares.
It is very difficult to listen to people who calmly talk about mines with which the Russians litter the village and the methods of killing civilians. Even harder is to comprehend how they survive in a village on the frontline.
The ‘Alley of Glory’ despite the danger
Besides shops, an outpatient clinic and an Administrative Services Center operate in Novoraisk.
«Here with us, – the head of the SVA says, – in the central settlement an outpatient clinic operates, there is a family doctor and in each settlement a feldsher works who sees people. And once a week the family doctor goes out to the villages and settlements of the community. The Administrative Services Center (CNAP) is operating, providing all the services that are possible and to which they have access».
Mykola Chystikov says that Russian aggression and the unfavorable security situation prevent not only the restoration of the school, but also the implementation of other projects beneficial to the community. For example, setting up a social bakery to provide people with bread. The rural military administration found a premises and agreed with donors on providing equipment. But…
«The security situation, – says the head of the SVA, – does not allow much to be done. Over the last six months it has become much worse. Previously Russian FPV drones did not reach Novoraisk, now they do. Enemy reconnaissance drones are constantly over the village».
So far the only new facility being built in Novoraisk, despite the constant threat, – is the «Alley of Glory».
«Right now, – says Mykola Chystikov, – work is being carried out to create the «Alley of Glory». Installation work is ongoing, the banners have already been made. We will honor the memory of our fallen soldiers».
This publication was created within the project of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) “Strengthening Public Oversight” with the financial support of Norway.