For more than two weeks, Kyiv Post journalist Korbinian Leo Kramer reported from Kherson and the surrounding region, including time spent inside the city’s so-called Red Zone – areas only hundreds of meters from the Dnipro River, which has become the de facto front line separating Ukrainian-held Kherson from Russian forces on the opposite bank.
Here, the war is not something happening somewhere beyond the city. Artillery fire crosses the river daily. FPV drones hunt above streets and neighborhoods, creating a threat so persistent that attacks on civilians have become known locally as the “human safari.”
Russian glide bombs have added another layer of danger, while large parts of the city closest to the river have emptied as residents flee or are evacuated.
Kramer spent days inside this environment, documenting what it means to continue living and working in a city where the front line has effectively become part of everyday life.
He met civilians who remain in some of Kherson’s most dangerous neighborhoods, accompanied members of Ukraine’s National Guard and Marines, and spent time with volunteers working despite the constant threat from the air.
He spoke with people who have lost their homes, those who refuse to leave, and those helping others survive in a city under relentless pressure.
His reporting also took him beyond Kherson itself, across a region where the consequences of war extend far beyond the immediate front line.
Farmers described working fields under the threat of drone attacks while struggling with low grain prices and the economic realities of producing crops in a region transformed by war.
Over the coming weeks, the Kyiv Post will publish a series of reports, interviews and photographs from Kramer’s time in Kherson and the surrounding region – stories from the Red Zone, from communities along the Dnipro and from people whose lives continue within one of the most dangerous civilian environments in Ukraine.
This is Kherson from the inside.