The line separating territory controlled by Ukraine and Russian forces is an invisible boundary that residents cross to visit friends and family, shop and deal with other needs.
KAMIYANSKE, Ukraine — Oleksander hates pulling into this abandoned Ukrainian village on the Dnieper River, one of the only portals into Russian-occupied territories to the east. When he passes the last Ukrainian flag, flapping next to a bombed-out gas station, he knows that he’s about to encounter the first Russian checkpoint and that the soldiers will question him, check his phone for anti-Russian memes and examine his body for military tattoos.
“It’s hard to find toilet paper, and the price has doubled,” said Serhii, another driver who regularly makes the trip between his apartment near Mariupol, which is in Russian hands, and the city of Zaporizhzhia in free Ukraine. “They do anything they want, any time,” said Rafik Sultanov, another driver who had been turned away that morning with a van full of toilet paper and laundry detergent donated by aid groups. “We are at their mercy.”
Most of those crossing here are families fleeing from areas held by the invading Russian forces. In all, more than 306,000 Ukrainians have fled occupied territories, according to government officials, through this and other crossing points when they were operating.
Oleksander has been stuck frequently, too, waiting for permission to continue. But for him, any delay has the benefit of giving him more time with his family. They long ago evacuated from his hometown of Berestove inside Russian-held territory. He waits with them at an apartment in Dnipro, just more than an hour away, until he gets a phone call telling him he can begin his run back into Russian-controlled territory.
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