Anhelina Kalinina, the highest ranked Ukrainian tennis player, has warm memories of the formative years she spent growing up in Nova Kakhovka. It is the place where her family, which contains many tennis coaches, first placed a tennis racket in her hands. As Kalinina took to the sport, she grew up surrounded by a strong community of players whose intense competition helped to mould her into the player she is today.
They are memories from a different world. In February 2022, Nova Kakhovka, a city situated in the southern Kherson oblast, was occupied by Russia. Then, last month, Russia’s destruction of its dam led to an environmental disaster within the area with thousands of people displaced. Even as the disasters piled up at their doorstep, Kalinina’s grandparents refused to leave their home town until one day it became a choice between life and potential death.
