Tupperware and wine

The deaths you don’t hear about in Ukraine.

Journalism is too opaque and misunderstood. Chills gives a behind-the-scenes look at how dangerous investigative journalism gets made.

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Only Russian passport holders can get humanitarian aid at this kind of distribution center after the explosion at the Kakhovka dam. (Photo by Narciso Contreras/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Here’s an interview I did with a Ukrainian source who asked not to be named. It tells a story from the front lines — about a couple in their 70s who were living in a Russian-occupied town when their house flooded to its top floor after the June rupture of the Kakhovka dam. They survived on wine the man had brought with him during their escape to the attic. The water was and is polluted with all kinds of chemicals, detritus and oil, so undrinkable. My source offers a kind of gallows humor I’ve seen in other Ukrainians dealing with the nightmare of war.

The couple’s rescue, unfortunately, was horrifically botched. But what happened tells a larger story about what it means to resist the Russians in the occupied areas in the east.

I’ve got a story out with more details on this in the Washington Monthly.

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This interview has been edited for clarity.

My friend’s grandparents, aged 74 and 72, live on the right bank of the Dnieper River, which is occupied. It’s not far from Kherson but on the other side of the river [on the occupied Russian side]. This is the town that’s probably the most affected by the Kakhovka dam being destroyed by the Russians. Some parts of it are still under water, and probably will stay that way for a long time. It was the most affected area when the water was the highest.

The water was almost at this couple’s rooftop; they were sheltering in the attic of the building. 

Here are some details, which are funny but, at the same time, not funny.

When the water was rising, the couple put their most important stuff in the attic so it doesn’t get destroyed by the water. What is really kind of funny is what this grandpa decided was of the utmost importance: He took with him some old wine bottles and the expensive Tupperware that his daughter, the mother of my friend, had given them.