Summer vacations under Russian missiles
This summer, despite constant Russian attacks, beaches in the Odesa region are flooded with tourists. Still, tourism faces unprecedented challenges.
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NATO is within Russian hi-tech drones strike range… Russian warship deployed close to a German island… Latvia wants compensation for neighbouring Russia… Russia marks foreign mercenaries…
Editor’s note:
No one has fully mapped what years of war do to a country’s collective psyche — that research doesn’t exist yet for Ukraine, and won’t for years.
Our reporters are inside the story they’re covering: interviewing a hotel manager whose guest apologized for stuttering from PTSD, counting casualties on beaches that double as blast zones, and writing it down by newsroom rules — calm, precise, fact-checked — while living through the same war their subjects describe.
That’s reporting you won’t get from a wire feed. But it’s free here, delivered right to your inbox.
OUR LEAD STORY:
KYIV, Ukraine – You leave your apartment and squint against the blazing sun as bright yellow spots float on the inside of your eyelids. You feel a cool breeze on your skin and gasp at the salty air while the waves murmur soothingly in the distance. That’s what you’ve missed for years, so you just let time freeze and soak up the sun.
Suddenly, distant seagull squawking turns into a piercing, ominous sound you’ve never pictured but have always been waiting for in the back of your mind. “That’s an air raid alert!” the hotel staff is calling. “Everyone to the shelter, please! A missile is flying here.”
Anna is the one who has to handle such situations confidently and ensure that each guest is safe.
The full-scale invasion changed the concept of summer vacations in Ukraine beyond recognition. After Russia completely seized the Azov shoreline and restrictions were imposed on men wishing to leave the country, thousands of tourists flooded the beaches of the Odesa region, the only remaining seaside destination. They continue to arrive despite dozens of Russian drones and missiles flying overhead to attack international ports, sea vessels, roads, and bridges.
This summer, 38 out of 45 beaches in the city of Odesa alone are open for tourists and have bomb shelters nearby. Still, the enemy attacks have already led to civilian casualties. On June 23, a 26-year-old woman died, and a man was injured due to a Russian drone strike.
Explosion on Langeron Beach in Odesa. August 16, 2026. Source: Telegram channel.
In July 2026, the Russian strikes resulted in a record number of civilian casualties, 70 percent more than the same month the previous year.
Tourists killed while enjoying their summer vacation only make up a small share, but it still means that Ukraine has no safe places to rest within the country. For many, vacations are sometimes the only way to recharge; Ukrainians’ minds often remain in survival mode even then, leaving no chance to escape traumatic experiences.
A drone attack on a Ukrainian beach might have no less economic impact on the hospitality industry than a sinking cargo ship has on international trade in grains. Anna Zapsha, a hotel administrator in the village of Zatoka on the Black Sea, recalled how the outbreak of the war almost put an end to her parents’ new business and forced her family to live on their savings.
“We opened in 2021, and in 2022, the full-fledged war began. This is probably one of the biggest crises our family has ever faced, because everyone pitched in, everyone was counting on it. The only thing we were relying on was what we’d earned over four months — and we hadn’t worked at all that year,” she said.
Echoes of the early years of war are still evident for her family and other hotel owners in the area. The Odesa region and Zatoka, located on the coastal spit, were heavily bombed, so her family halted construction of a new building and a swimming pool. Under constant threat, they still can’t bring themselves to expand, but their competitors on the western side of the bay had it even worse. According to Anna, several hotels there were completely damaged by Russian strikes, while others had their property seized for not having paid land taxes on time.
The hotel got back to work in 2023, rather spontaneously. Anna, a university student, came to Zatoka from Kyiv, and her parents returned from her hometown of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi in the Odesa region just “to change the scenery” for a few days. Then, people started coming and asking to stay.
“We weren’t expecting that at all, because we don’t have any staff — it was just me, my mom, and my dad. People would come just for the weekend because everyone was still afraid to travel. And we took whatever little money they gave us, there weren’t any set prices,” Anna recalled.
Further on, the situation began to improve. Each year brought more visitors, and it got busier. In 2026, all 30 rooms at Anna’s family hotel were booked from early June. According to her, the hotel might have attracted some of the guests due to the difficulties that people face on their way to other areas of Zatoka. Since spring of 2022, Russian missiles have often hit the bridge over the Dniester estuary, so now the part of Zatoka is only accessible through the territory of Moldova.
“To get there, you have to drive through Palanka, the border crossing with Moldova, and take a detour. To cross the border, you need to get an invitation on the Border Service’s website if you’re a man,” Anna explained. “We’re in the part closer to Odesa, so, if I may say so, we got lucky.”
In about five years of working at her family hotel, Anna mastered multiple skills, sometimes completely unexpected. Once, Anna even had to decorate a room for newlyweds on their honeymoon. She still remembers a couple who returned married the next season and brought their child with them a year later. In her opinion, what makes the guests return is the coziness her family is trying to maintain in the hotel.
“They often come here for the atmosphere — they feel like they’re at home. That’s what we have to do. People come here on vacation and stay for a week, and during this week, we want to do our absolute best to help them and make sure they’re comfortable,” Anna said.
When drones or missiles are approaching, this home-like feeling plays out in a different way. During an air raid alert, Anna and her parents try to warn the guests and see them go to safety. The hotel has a shelter, but not all visitors use it. Firstly, near the water, it’s almost impossible to make it deep enough and totally safe. Secondly — and that’s even more disturbing — most guests come from places where attacks are nothing new. The visitors from Kyiv, which faces missile attacks once every few days, and frontline regions, such as Kharkiv, Sumy, or Chernihiv, tend to behave casually, no matter the danger.
But the dangers along the Odesa region’s coastline are unique. First, there are sea mines. After every storm, currents can wash explosive objects ashore. According to Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk, some of these mines can detonate before bomb disposal experts arrive because they have already been activated by the sea. A mine that explodes in the water is particularly dangerous because the shock wave is significantly more powerful than an airborne explosion. Some beaches along the coast have officially closed this year due to an unconfirmed mine threat, and most other beaches remain closed and have not been cleared of mines.
Second, the Odesa region experiences missile strikes with a different reaction time than most other regions of the country. Due to its proximity to occupied Crimea, where the launchers are located, ballistic missiles take less time to reach Odesa compared to Kyiv, depending on the launch point.
Anna herself has a brother who is serving in the army, so she is always open to talking to the visitors who need it. She might talk to a guest for an hour, listening about their military service or the pets they have brought from the frontline. According to her, the most important skill in hospitality is to treat everyone with patience and respect. Veterans probably need even more of these, as they are often insecure because of their injuries or mental disorders.
“We had an experience with a soldier who stuttered due to PTSD and asked if that was okay for us. For some reason, soldiers worry a lot about how civilians will react to things,” Anna noticed. “Although in reality, we’re the ones who have to adapt to them.”
Anna still remembers the terrible days in winter and spring of 2022, when Russian amphibious units could land in Odesa, or the end of June, when the Ukrainian army liberated Snake Island. If it weren’t for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, her family’s business would remain no more than a shattered dream, so stopping to chat or asking other visitors to turn the music down is the least she can do to help soldiers relax.
As for her own ways to wind down after a hectic summer season, Anna jokes that she would never go to the beach.
“Locals don’t go to the seaside,” she laughed. “In two months I’ve been here, I’ve only been to the beach one time, and I don’t go there anymore.”
Instead, she prefers hiking through mountains and enjoys exploring new cities in Ukraine or abroad. Wherever she goes, she tries not to pack every day with tours and activities but gives herself a few slow mornings and lazy days to breathe.
Despite the uncertainty and danger of war, with drones and missiles falling on resort towns, Ukrainians live on and deserve to have some rest. For some, this is the only way to keep themselves going.
“Everyone chooses a resort the best they can. Everywhere’s a nightmare right now. We’re living in conditions where we just adapted, but we need to change the picture so our minds don’t… well, so we don’t go off the deep end,” Anna said.
Interested in how other Ukrainian businesses are doing during the war? Explore our earlier stories:
Chinese generators explode during Kharkiv blackouts by Oleksandra Poda
How conscription pushes women into “male jobs” by Oleksandra Poda
Investigation: How Russia steals Ukraine’s trillion-dollar mineral wealth by Yelyzaveta Tkachenko and Veronika Romanova
Inside an inclusive Ukrainian bakery by Oleksandra Khelemendyk
Editor’s Note:
Our reporters are inside every story they’re covering: interviewing a hotel manager whose guest apologized for stuttering from PTSD, counting casualties on beaches that double as blast zones and writing it all by the newsroom rules — calm, precise, fact-checked — while living through the same war their subjects describe.
Support the team that works hard to get stories like this into your inbox!
THE LATEST NEWS AT THIS HOUR:
By: Mariana Stadnyk
Good morning to readers; Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.
NATO IS WITHIN RUSSIAN HI-TECH DRONES STRIKE RANGE: Russia has built 10 new secret bases with launch pads for its most powerful long-range suicide drones, all within striking distance of NATO countries, according to an investigation done by The Telegraph. Some of the bases have already been used to attack Ukraine.
The bases, some of which have already been used to attack Ukraine, are able to store over 1,000 drones at once – evidence of Moscow’s plan to expand drone capabilities. Out of 59 new launch rails for drones, 20 have an extended length, indicating that they will be used to launch some of Russia’s newest long-range drones.
U.S. intelligence recently warned that Russia is likely to launch an attack on a NATO country in the next few years in order to test the alliance.
RUSSIAN WARSHIP DEPLOYED CLOSE TO A GERMAN ISLAND: The Russian Admiral Kasatonov frigate, equipped with cruise and hypersonic missiles, was deployed near the German island of Fehmarn last week, The Telegraph reported. By Monday, the vessel’s location was unclear as the ship’s tracker was turned off.
In addition to the Admiral Kasatonov, the Admiral Levchenko was seen in July near the same island and believed to be protecting the Russian shadow fleet.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to attack British and EU vessels for the seizure of the shadow fleet ships, which he described as “piracy”. Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Russian national security council, stated that Russia could attack any merchant ship belonging to a country transporting cargo in the interests of Ukraine.
LATVIA WANTS COMPENSATION FOR NEIGHBOURING RUSSIA: In advance of the national election in October, Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs asked the EU to give Latvia €7 billion from the EU’s next seven-year budget to compensate for the financial cost of sharing a border with Russia, Politico reported. While Latvia has sharply increased defense spending since the war in Ukraine, trade with Russia has decreased dramatically.
Kulbergs has said that while Latvia is providing security to other European countries, this is pushing Latvia’s budget deficit to its limit. Meanwhile, Latvian defense spending often fuels European economies, as Latvia ends up purchasing weapons from other EU countries. Another candidate, Ainārs Šlesers, believes the EU should compensate Latvia every time the country supports sanctions on Russia.
Latvia, along with other Baltic states, have come under threat from Russia over the course of the war. Russian drones have violated the airspace of Baltic countries and Russia has repeatedly threatened the Baltics for their support for Ukraine.
RUSSIA MARKS FOREIGN MERCENARIES: Instead of using standard military identification tags, Russia has resorted to marking the skin or clothing of foreign mercenaries with serial numbers using henna as a method of identification, Ukraine’s military intelligence reported.
Although the markings are not permanent, they cannot be washed off with water and must be remade if they start to fade. These serial numbers make it easier for Russian police to identify deserters.
CATOF CONFLICT:
Mariana’s boyfriend has recently adopted this small kitten, taking her from a local shelter. But on her first day in her new home, she faced a ballistic attack:(
Stay safe out there!
Best,
Oleksandra and Oleksandra.
 | A guest post by
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Just back from Odesa, it seems busier than ever, despite the unwelcome increase in missile and high speed drone attacks. I hope everyone stays in business and wish them peaceful skies!