MYKOLAIV OBLAST – Early on, Ukraine’s south became one of the hardest-hit regions of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Moving out of occupied Crimea, Russians sacked the southern regional capital of Kherson on March 2. Soon, they reached the outskirts of the major port city of Mykolaiv. The 80-kilometer stretch of land between the two regional capitals became a heavily contested front line, destroying villages en masse and forcing locals to hide in basements fearing for their lives. “We sleep in the cellar. Myself, my mom, and my child,” said Anna Volynets, a resident of Kotlyareve, a small village located on the...