When Russian forces advanced in the middle of last winter, the villagers of Posad-Pokrovske began to flee, joining compatriots from across the southern Ukrainian province of Kherson in a mass westward exodus.
Over the past month, since Ukraine's army recaptured the provincial capital and surrounding territory, they have been slowly returning to homes damaged or reduced to rubble by Russian shells, set in a landscape of shattered trees, downed telegraph poles and spent munitions.
